Recorded Progress
by RamenStarr
Summary: He was a dark man in an even darker world. Why is this wretch so transfixed on this single, bright flower that still managed to bloom beautifully in the shadows of this world?
1. Only YOU can prevent lost saved data

**I'm sure all my followers hate me for not updating anything and just posting new stuff, but I can't really work on new chapters when there is new ideas in my head lol.**

 **Well, this here is something I've thought about for over a year now, since the first Sun and Moon game. My favorite character of the game is of course Nanu, so I'm writing some romance for him since there's like NOTHING on this site.**

 **Gonna be Nanu/Moon (fem protag). I'm actually going to be calling her Sunne in this, because why not change it up a bit. Sunne is obviously aged up, but still underage at around 16. I don't condone this, its just fanfiction so don't fuckin' write me any rude shit that you don't like it, if you don't like it, don't read it to begin with.**

 **Nanu is gonna be somewhere between 45 and 50 something, idk yet.**

 **ALSO! Just wanna point out that this all mainly came about because of inabsolutes and their amazing story** **Backpfeifengesicht** **over on AO3. I don't have an account over there so here I am. If you're interested in this kinda thing go check it out, it's just great.**

 **Sorry for any mistakes, I have no beta.**

 **Thanks for reading hope you like it.**

 **ps. I'm trying out different POV in chapters.**

 **000**

Only YOU can prevent lost saved data, so always remember to record your progress before and after you do anything you feel is important.

 **000**

Nanu:

I've lived here for ten years. I've been Kahuna and Chief of Ula'ula Police for nine of those years.

Even after all this time, from up here, from a lonely, rain drenched cliff overlooking the sea just past Po Town, it was beautiful. Wild Pokemon cries could be heard in the background, although sometimes an occasional shout or jeer slipped through from beyond the walls of the gang infested town, but the natural ambience was not entirely lost.

There was a reason for my solitude out here on the cliffs. Well, there were many reasons for wanting to be left alone, but currently it was because there was a game on-baseball. You know it? It was all anyone talked about these days, even the criminals, killers included.

On my List of Things I Loathe and Despise, killers who insist on talking sports to me is number forty-three. As if that's going to get them out of cuffs.

Now normally I wouldn't be so bothered by everyone's love for baseball, but there was currently a game playing in every single bar and restaurant in Malie City, and they had the damn thing blasting because there was a local trainer playing. A beloved local, at that.

So, to get away from the chaos of that and the constant cries of the many Meowth that inhabited my station, here I was away from it all with a kitty paw thermos (a gift from Acerola) full of Komala coffee.

I was just about to slide the mouth guard open to take a drink, when an explosion of sound blasted from behind the walls of Po Town, making me pause. I turned my tired gaze towards the closed gate and let out a sigh when the same exact cheering and shouts from the most recent play drifted to my ears. Guess the Skull gang are baseball lovers too. Sounds like they're taking advantage of being the only residents and blasting the volume out of every working TV and radio there, from the sound of it.

I let a sardonic smirk creep onto my face and raised my thermos. Here's to you, Universe.

I sigh tiredly and wriggle my soaked toes around in my sandals, and slowly turn around to trek back towards my police station and home, before a rather chilly wind swept past my drenched form, stopping me in my tracks.

My crimson eyes slowly began to sharpen from their dull gaze as my instincts instantly became alert to something Not Right being carried with the breeze.

I half turned so that I was looking out at the horizon again, and narrowed my eyes in thought. If there was one thing I learned from all my years of working Interpol as Agent 000, it was to always listen to my instincts and gut feeling. My instincts were never wrong.

Most often joked that I was meant to be born as a Meowth, and I simply got a human body instead.

Heh, it would explain why this wretch always got along with the felines so easily.

As if hearing the thought, an Ultra ball at my belt burst open and white matter lit up the dark, dreary area in a flash. I simply blinked down at the now formed Alolan Persian that materialized by my feet, curled around my legs, loose enough that I could move freely, but in a position where it could protect me from in front and behind if need be.

The dark feline had it's hackles raised and it's fangs bared in the direction of the open sea. "Perrrsss..."

I let out a low hum and looked back out as well. "You feel that too, huh?"

I brought my unoccupied hand out of my pants pocket and down to run my calloused fingers through its soft fur. "Let's head home, Tapu Bulu will let us know if we're needed."

As we headed back towards the station, I couldn't shake the feeling under my skin that something big was coming. An event, and entity, a catastrophe, something, was coming.

All this wretch could do was prepare for the worst.

-End of Entry-

 **000**

Sunne:

I just finished up boxing up the last of my books before deciding to take a quick computer break. Nothing wrong with that, I've been working hard all morning! All I've got left is my clothes, my game console and PC stuff, some shoes...

Okay, maybe I'm not packing as fast as I could, but I really wasn't looking forward to this move.

I was a sixteen year old girl, I had friends here. I was still trying to beat the Indigo League. Maybe if Mom and I were just vacationing, it wouldn't be so bad. But we were MOVING PERMANENTLY to ALOLA.

What. Even.

I'm totally not mad. At all.

I have no say in it either. I'm an official Pokemon trainer, so I don't really _have_ to live with my parent still, but honestly, I couldn't really afford to travel Kanto by myself.

I only had the money that I've gotten from winning battles, and between buying potions and some little things here and there, I can't afford to pay for a motel room every night I'm not home.

Not every kid starts out with money their parents give them. Mom didn't have enough to spare when I started my journey through the region. I have about ten thousand pokedollars saved up from battles and my two won gym battles, but that's it.

Look, clothes are expensive, okay?!

Not just that, but I _do_ take care of my Meowth, I bought her cat toys, battle items, and TM's. The main reason I won my gym battles was because of the two TM's I gave her to give her an edge no one would expect.

Also, I had a bit a of a rough start. Purry, Mom's pet Meowth, was my starting Pokemon. She was domesticated, so it took some time and _lots_ of wild battles to train her to fight well. I was good at strategy and all that, but I can only do so much until my Pokemon got enough battle experience and muscle memory to be in sync with me. So it took almost a year to just get Purry used to fighting and weaned off of pampered life as a pet.

Okay, she was still kinda pampered, but not like how Mom spoils her. She _is_ the family baby like me after all.

I sigh as I thumb through my tourist magazine about Alola. Looks like I'll have to put my Kanto journey on hold until I can afford to fly back. At least they have something well paying in Alola. I'm not sure how I feel about these 'island challenges', but I'll take what I can get.

Mom seems to know the Pokemon Prof. over there, and she was saying that I might be able to start out with something interesting. I only hope it's a Pokedex. I'm not going to raise my hopes for a rare Pokemon.

A ding chimed from my PC and I lifted my cerulean blue eyes from the page. Ah, speaking of Prof. Kukui...

I accepted the incoming call and blinked in pleasant surprise. I don't know why I was expecting a older professor like we have here, but instead there was a young, tanned man with only an open lab coat on that I could see. No shirt.

Okay, so maybe Alola doesn't seem so bad...

"Hey there, good afternoon!" He waved with a grin. "Today's the day, right cousin?"

Ah, moving day. "Yep, sure is. Nice to meet you, Prof. Kukui!" I couldn't help but give him a big grin back. He seemed like a pretty happy guy.

He explained a bit how his region was, explained how it was made up of four islands, and mentioned how cool the Pokemon were there. He demonstrated by tossing up a Poke ball and a brown and white puppy Pokemon burst out onto his desk. Okay, that was pretty cute. Were those stones sticking out of its neck?

"Alright then cousin, I just need a picture to update your trainer ID and a correct spelling of your name to set you up."

Ah, that's right, I had better retake the whole thing, my hair's longer now then it was when I started my career. "Alright, hang on one sec, I'll be right back." I quickly muted the call and left my desk to grab my camera. I used my full length mirror to see the screen of my camera and quickly snapped a selfie to send to him. I sat back in my seat and unmuted the call.

"Okay, I'll go ahead and type you my name while I upload my photo, Professor."

He threw me a thumbs up and a small bird type Pokemon flew onto his shoulder. Was I looking at rare starter Pokemon? "Sounds good, kiddo!"

After finishing up my call with Kukui, Mom hollered at me from the dining room. "Sunne! Oh Sunny D, can you please come help me with these boxes?"

I grimaced at the nickname and stood up from my chair with a small huff. "Coming!"

Alola, here I come.

-End of Entry-

 **000**

 **There's chapter 1.**

 **I'll have a visual description of Sunne in chapter 2. Yeah, so far her only Pokemon is a Kantonian Meowth. Will that change? Or will she have Purry for the whole thing? Hmmmmm...**

 **Also, I would have made her starter the family pet anyway, not just because of Meowth lol. Maybe?**

 **Let me know if you like it, this will be a bit of a slow burn, since Nanu and Sunne won't even meet for a while, although I am going to bring him in sooner and more often then just at Ula'ula island.**

 **Peace**


	2. Close Calls And New Friends

**I'm very tired.**

 **So, not sure if I mentioned this already, but these are going to be kinda like journal/diary entries. Like for the save files in the game. They're going to have speech and shit in it because why not? But that's the theme.**

 **inabsolutes posted chappie 16 while I was writing this, and I immediately dropped everything in my life to read that beautiful long chapter.**

 **Bless you. You make me want to just write a oneshot of sexy Nanu times.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **000**

 **Adventure Rules: Record your progress**

 **000**

Sunne:

I wake up to meowing.

I slowly open my eyes and blink blearily down at my Meowth, who has both paws on the bed and a happy smile on her face. "Meow!" She cried at seeing me awake. I tiredly smiled back down at her and gave her a pet.

"Good morning to you too."

We've been in Alola for a over two months now and I had to admit, I was starting to love this place.

The weather was wonderful, I'd been getting a pretty good tan, my skin now a golden color from constant time at the beach and sight seeing around town. I've met up with Kukui a few times too, but I haven't started my Alola journey yet. Not until today.

I quickly danced around Purry towards my closet, excitement rushing through me. Kukui was coming over soon to pick me up to see the a man named Hala, who had something essential to give me for my Island trials.

I brushed my long blonde hair and pulled it away from my eyes. I threw on a pink Prof. Oak t-shirt I had bought last week with some comfy shorts and my best tennis shoes. I really need to pick up some more tropical wear while I'm here.

I pulled my hair into some messy twin braids before heading towards the door. "C'mon, Purry!"

"Meow!"

I exited my room and almost ran into Mom in my excitement. "Oh, careful Sunne! You excited to meet some Alolan Pokemon?" She asked with a knowing smile.

I nodded. "Oh yeah, I want to see something other than Pikipek and Yungoose. Everything else I've seen so far has been Kanto Pokemon, even at the beach!"

"Oh, that's right, you decided to go shopping the day I went to the beach last week didn't you? There was a nice young lady who showed off her Pyukumuku."

Thanks for rubbing it in, Mom.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Mom turned towards it and blinked. "I wonder who that could be? I don't think it's time for Kukui to come by yet..."

I shrug and walk over to answer but stop short when Kukui walks on in like he owns the place. Huh, well, just let yourself in. Yeesh.

"Hey there, Sunne!" He said jovially and gave a little wave. "You still settling in, cousin?"

I shrug a shoulder and forced a smile on my face. No use getting upset about him coming in, I think that's an Alolan thing. "Kinda sorta. I went to the beach and explored around town a bit, but that it. Still a lot of stuff to unpack."

"Ah, I see! Well, welcome to Alola you two! I'm happy to see you enjoying your new home."

"Of course!" Mom said as she walked up to stand with us. "I still remember seeing you battle the Indigo Gym Leaders back in Kanto all those years ago. I've been in love with Alolan Pokemon ever since, so I finally decided to come here myself!" She giggled.

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, being kind of weirded out since I haven't ever heard her giggle _quite_ like that before, before I comprehended what she said. "Wait, you've challenged the Indigo league, Prof. Kukui?" I asked curiously.

"Now now, just Kukui!" He literally waved his title away and smiled wide enough to show his teeth. "Well, I was supposed to be visiting there to research Kanto Pokemon moves and all. I thought I knew a thing or two about battling, but those Kanto Gym Leaders proved me wrong!" He said with a laugh.

I nodded with understanding. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I only took on two of them, but even they made battling seem like an all out war." I smiled a more genuine smile at the memories.

"Oh? You took on some Gyms, Sunne?" He asked surprised. Didn't Mom tell him that?

"Yeah, I fought Misty from Cerulean and Erika from Celadon." I looked around for Purry and clicked my tongue at her, letting her know I wanted her to come over.

"Meowth!" She cried and jumped into my arms, happy with the attention. "The first badge wasn't too hard to get in my opinion, but me and Purry almost got beat by Misty and her Starmie. She had combos and plans against her weaknesses so we just barely scrapped by."

"Whoa, hold on," Kukui exclaimed with an incredulous expression. "You won a gym battle against Misty with _just_ a pet Meowth?!"

I blinked at that. "Well, no. I trained Purry like crazy before taking on any gyms, let alone other _trainers._ She wouldn't have lasted a second against either of them as a domesticated pet with no battle experience. I probably should of caught another Pokemon before taking on a gym, but honestly I just felt impatient and didn't want to take the time to train another Pokemon yet."

Kukui just stared at me blankly for a moment before scratching at his temple. "Huh," I couldn't help but blush a _tiny_ bit when he gave me an impressed smile. Damn, he didn't really need to get more handsome then he already was.

"Well, consider me impressed, cousin. I didn't think you had some badges under your belt already! You'll do just fine here."

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "Let's get a move on to the next town over, cousin! Time for you to meet the Island Kahuna and get yourself a Pokemon, yeah!"

I was just about ask what a Kahuna was when the words halted in my throat. I stared at him with wide eyes. "A Pokemon?!"

He nodded. "The kahuna who lived in Iki Town is always happy to give any kid who wants to have an adventure with their first Pokemon, yeah." He then blinked and shrugged. "Even though you already have a Meowth, I'm sure he'll still give you one since you're new here."

Well, that's a relief. As much as I love Purry, I get a rare Alolan Pokemon!

"They'll simply give my girl a Pokemon? How nice of those kahunas!" My mom said happily. "Hurry and get ready, Sunny D!" She placed her hands on her hips. "Your bag and things are still in the boxes in your room."

I nodded, mind still swimming with POKEMONFREECHALLENGESTARTSTODAYSTARTERPOKEMON as I practically ran to my room. I heard my mom call behind me, "Oh, and don't forget your diary! It's on your desk, dear!"

 **000**

Sunne:

Feeling slightly calmer but still excited, I came back out of my room with my black travel purse and my newest black and red Indigo cap sitting atop my head. Purry was demanding attention from the shirtless Prof. and Mom was giggling at the scene.

Okay then.

"You ready?" I ask him excitingly as I walked up to them.

"Ah, yeah," He said while trying to fend off the cat who was trying to climb up his legs. He was still smiling though, so he must be used to scratches.

"Oh, you! No climbing on guests now." Mom finally took pity on the man and picked the Meowth up and carried her away.

"Ha, your mom there...She's sure looking forward to you getting your first Alolan Pokemon, yeah. Let's get going!"

He heads for the front door and I quickly follow him, deciding to leave Purry with Mom for now. I'll come back and get her before I start my challenges.

By the time I'm outside Kukui is already almost to the fork in the path to my right. I jog down the steps to follow when something bright yellow catches my eye. I quickly turn in the other direction, thinking I was just imagining seeing what I _thought_ I saw...

A small black lightning shaped tail was sticking out of some bushes to the left of our house and my eyes widened, recognizing it.

I automatically freeze up out of habit. No way. There's only one Pokemon I know with a tail like that...

With dread, I creep towards it to make sure when Kukui suddenly shouts at me, making me jump.

"Hey, cousin! The heat getting to you? It's over this way!" I turned to see him waving at me and the fork in the road.

Well, geez. Flag me down, _cousin._

I turn back around to see that the tail is long gone and can't help but sigh in relief before quickly jogging over to him.

 **000**

Sunne:

I was a little irked.

We get to Iki town, but the Kahuna is no where to be seen. Kukui said to head up Mahalo Trail to see if he's up there while he waited in town, just in case they came back from a different way. So here I am, trekking up the trail, no, now I'm chasing after a younger girl in white as she runs ahead. What's the rush?

Well, I'm not really that annoyed, I still get to check out the area. It's new territory for me, and it's just as neat as everything else I've seen so far here.

By the time I catch up, I see her staring out at the wooden bridge in front of her in fear.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, slightly out of breath from the chase.

She whips around in surprise and looks up at me in worry and relief. Huh, she has even lighter blonde hair then me. "H-help..." she stutters.

"Please, you have to save Nebby! I...I would if I could, but I'm...terrified..."

I frown at that and look to where she was pointing and my eyes widened in alarm. What looked to be a baby Pokemon was being attacked by a small flock Spearow. Ugh, even _here_ they're assholes.

"Hold on, I'll help!" Shout over my shoulder as I dash past her towards the Pokemon. I made it four steps before I abruptly stopped, a small scream of fright escaping as my foot crashed through a weak plank. I gripped the rope and willed myself to keep moving, cursing myself for leaving Purry.

I tore my eyes from the sight of the raging river below and steeled myself to continue forward.

I wasn't sure how I would fight the birds off with no Pokemon, but I'll figure it out. I have to get to that poor crying Pokemon.

In what felt like forever, I made it to the Pokemon and immediately threw myself over the blue baby and tried to shield it as best as I could. Talons scratched at the back of my shirt and I snarled at them, swatting blindly with an arm.

I felt heat coming from below me, and I saw that the baby was emitting some kind of energy. My eyes widened in alarm but before I could do anything, it forced the energy out and around us.

It shredded the bridge and knocked the Spearow back, but thankfully passed harmlessly through me. Well almost. The attack instantly made me feel sick to my stomach, but I pushed through the feeling and clutched the Pokemon to my chest in an effort to protect it from our sudden plummet.

I knew deep down that doing so wouldn't really do much, but I had to try.

My mind was a mess of chaotic, last thoughts. I'm going to die. We're going to die! And my mind just freezes and I can just feel the world around me slow down and I see the bridge and the Spearow getting farther away, faster and faster. Eventually I was going to hit the ruthless river beneath me. Was a small group of Spearow _really_ the last thing that I was going to see?

Suddenly, a bright flash of yellow cut through my panic and my eyes instantly focused on a very fast approaching _something._

Wait, did that thing just INCINERATE those Spearow?!

Suddenly it left my vision, and a second later I was in the arms of the Something, being lifted back up to solid ground where the girl in white was still waiting.

I was gently set down at her feet and I finally got a better look at my savior.

My eyes widened at the sight of the strange, rooster like Pokemon that was now staring at me. I vaguely registered that it had yellow electricity sparking around it, a obvious sign that it was an Electric type. Usually that would of had me terrified or at least wary, but I could only stare dumbly.

This must be what it's like to be in shock. I guess almost dying would do that to you.

"Kokoooo!" It gave a mighty cry before shooting back off into sky like a yellow bullet, leaving the three of us to stare after it in amazement.

 **000**

Sunne:

The rest that followed was a bit of blur to me. I was still feeling messed up from my brush with death. The girl in white thanked me for helping her, and the baby Pokemon Nebby found a sparkling stone that must of been left by the rooster from before. I asked her what her name was, and she just shook her head at me, ignoring my question.

Okie dokie then. Not like I just _risked_ my _life_ to help you out of the kindness of my heart! I just wanted to know your name so I didn't have to think of you as the 'girl in white'!

Oh, she's giving me the sparkling stone.

Well, that's fine then. I'll never turn down pretty stones or rare items! If it turns out to be useless, I can always sell it!

We head back to Iki Town and meet up with Kukui. We apparently just missed the Kahuna guy. He then says that I found his assistant!

She introduces herself as Lillie, and it takes everything in me to not just shout at her. Why couldn't she just tell me that five minutes ago?!

Sorry, I'm a little on edge still. Hopefully my heart will stop racing by the time the Kahuna gets here.

"The Kahuna is back! Kahuna Hala has returned!"

Huh. Speak of the devil.

"Our guardian's chosen one is back!" The group of people by the towns entrance continued. "Only one of the strongest Pokemon users in all Alola, yeah!"

Chosen one?

 **000**

Sunne:

"Have I missed something?" The squinty eyed Kahuna asked, looking around at the people waiting for him.

"Naw, but where'd you go off to, Kahuna? I thought we were meeting here?" Kukui asked.

He walked closer to us and put his hands on his hips. "I am Kahuna of this Island. Whenever there is a problem on the Island, it is my duty to resolve it."

He then scratched at his head in what looked like confusion. "For some reason I thought I saw Tapu Koko flying about on my way back..."

Lillie quickly nodded her head. "Oh, um, yes. Nebby was being attack by Spearow on the Plank Bridge when this girl helped it get away...but the bridge collapsed, and I thought both of them might fall to the bottom of the ravine...and _that_ was when the island's guardian deity swooped in to save them!" she started her tale in a soft, nervous voice, but by the end of it she talked louder than I've heard her yet.

Guardian deity? So that was a legendary Pokemon?!

"Woo! That's something you don't hear every day!" Kukui exclaimed and looked over at me in concern. "You alright, Sunne?"

I nodded and made sure to smile brightly. No need to cause any more worry. "Yes! I'm alright now thanks to that Pokemon. I'm sure glad it was there..."

"Ho! Although it is said to protect us, our Tapu Koko is a rather fickle creature. Yet our guardian was moved to save you..."

Suddenly Hala smiled down at me and slapped Kukui on the back with enough force to cause him to teeter a bit. "Kukui, my boy, I think we have cause to celebrate! It seems I should entrust this brave and kind young girl with a Pokemon of her own. We'll make a fine trainer out of her!"

The Kahuna walked past Kukui and came up to me with a kind smile. "I'm glad to meet you, child. I am Hala, the kahuna of Melemele Island. Welcome to Alola!"

I shook his hand with a smile. "Thank you, sir. It's good to meet you too!" Geez, he's got a hell of a grip...

"Young Kukui had told me of your coming. I'm glad we got the chance to meet today!" He then let got of my smaller hand and unceremoniously tossed out three Poke balls towards the wooden battle stage.

I couldn't help but bounce in place a little in excitement when the white matter formed three very different Pokemon, all young. A small brown and white owl with a cute little bow tie, a black and red kitten, and an adorable blue seal like Pokemon with a pink ball for a nose.

I actually get to choose a rare starter Pokemon!

I heard the older men chuckle at my antics. "That's the Grass type Pokemon, Rowlet." Hala pointed at the owl, then continued down the line. "Next is the Fire type Pokemon, Litten. Last but not least is the Water type Pokemon, Popplio."

They all did cute little cries as they were announced, and I couldn't decide which I wanted more!

"Which will you choose as your partner, young one?" Hala asked from beside me.

My eyes danced from each one as I thought it through. They all seemed wonderful, and I just couldn't quite decide what called out to me the most...

My gaze landed on the Popplio longer than the rest, and after seeing it give me a cute, happy smile, I made my choice.

"Popplio." I decided, not taking my eyes off it.

It barked happily at being chosen.

"Only when you have both chosen each other can you truly call each other partners." Hala said, bringing my thoughts to a halt.

What? I don't just take it with me? Huh, well...can't say I don't see the logic in that. It does make me kind of nervous though...what if the Popplio didn't like me?

I quickly joined the Pokemon on the platform and let it study me. I gulp as the Popplio stares at me quite sweetly, the suspense killing me.

It suddenly ran towards me and stopped until it was right in front of me, and smiled wide at me. I let out a silent sigh of relief and grinned back.

I bent down and gently lifted the small Water type in my arms. "Bwark!" Popplio seemed to be preening a bit.

"So it has chosen you to be it's trainer." Hala said while coming up behind me.

"Having accepted one another, you'll surely be friends for life!" Kukui added with a wide smile.

I brought my Popplio closer to my chest in a hug, the seal barking happily at the cuddles. "Is it a boy or a girl?" I ask curiously. I needed to make sure of the gender before I gave it a proper name.

"That one there is a female," Hala answered.

I nodded my thanks and continued to gaze at my new Pokemon in thought. Then the perfect name came to mind. "I'll call you Zella, little lady. Do you like it?"

The now named Zella blinked its big eyes at me and barked with a smile. I'll take that as a yes, then.

I turned back to Hala, Kukui, and Lillie and held Zella up for them to see. "It's nice to meet you, Zella!" Lillie greeted kindly before we heard a cry from her feet. We all looked down to see Nebby out of the bag and floating cheerfully with a huge smile. It was so cute!

"Nebby! Will you please just stay in the bag?!"

We all laughed at the scene.

After our giggles died down, Kukui got my attention. "I feel you and Pop- sorry, Zella- will prosper here in Alola. Here's a gift to make the occasion special, cousin." He pulled out something red from his coat pocket and held it out to me. I gasped when I saw what it was.

"You're giving me a Pokedex?" I breathed out, slowly took it, almost afraid that it was a prank.

"Sure thing! It's a real high-tech tool, yeah, that any trainer needs for their adventures! Your new partner is already registered, oh yeah, so check it out!"

I did just that, shuffling Zella around in my arms so that she was still comfortable and tried to work the bulky 'dex with one hand. It sure was an oddly shaped Pokedex. I saw that it was categorized by listing all Pokemon I've found in total, and by the different Islands. The only island that was available was Melemele, and so I tapped that icon to pull up Popplio's entry.

"Popplio snorts body fluids from its nose, blowing balloons to smash into its foes. It's famous for being a hard worker." I read aloud.

"Here's this too, cousin. You're newly updated trainer passport! Now why don't you go introduce your new friend to your mom, Sunne?" Kukui suggested while handing me my passport.

I nodded and juggled my items and Pokemon around in my arms, trying to stuff my 'dex and ID into my bag. "Good idea. I also can't wait to have her and Purry meet, too. You'll probably get along with her, Zella." I addressed the seal in my arms, and she looked up at me. "My Meowth loves to preen too."

I giggled at her excited barks and continued to tell her more about my other partner Pokemon as I walked off the platform and towards the road back home.

I only just left town when I boy who looked about Lillie's age ran towards me from the direction I was going. He was in a black t-shirt and what looked like orange beach shorts, with his thick, dark hair in a pony tail.

He came to a stop in front of me and gave me the widest smile I've ever seen. And I thought Kukui was a happy guy.

"Alola! You and me, let's have a Pokemon battle!" He declared, smiling so wide his eyes shut.

Um, what?

I only stared dumbly at him while I heard the others join us, Hala letting out a jolly laugh. "Where's the fire, boy?" He asked him. "And what kind of a Pokemon battle would that be where you don't even give a name first, eh?"

The boy caught the look Hala was giving him and gave me another grin. "Fair enough. I'm Hau, and my partner's Litten!" He looked at the Pokemon in my arms. "Your Popplio looks really cool, too!"

"Thanks?" I respond a little unsure. This was a strange conversation.

He nodded excitingly. "Yeah! So let's battle!"

I don't say anything else and quickly look down at Zella. "Well, are you up for a battle, little lady?" I ask, not wanting to just throw her out to fight then second after we've met.

In response, she barked and jumped from my arms to stand in front of me, looking ready. Well, that answers that, then.

Hala chuckles at that, and Hau smiles at our exchange. "Alright then! I expect a no-holds-barred battle from the both of you!" The Kahuna announces before walking off of the path so that he's out of our way, Kukui and his assistant joining him a second later.

"I don't really like seeing Pokemon get hurt...but I'll watch for you, Sunne!" Lillie called out.

I could hear Kukui saying something too low for me to hear as Hau quickly walked back far enough to give his newly called out Litten some room.

He looked like a new trainer, so I motioned for him to start.

He wasted no time. "Litten! Use scratch!"

Immediately the Fire type cat leaped at Zella and with sharp claws. I waited until it was too close to dodge before calling out, "Water gun!"

Zella spat out a strong blast of water right into Litten's face, causing it to fly back towards Hau. "Litten!" Hau cried out in shock and concern, looking like he was battling the instinct to run out to it.

"Pound attack, Zella!" I commanded, hoping to end things with this attack. The Litten was having trouble getting to it's feet from our critical hit. My seal Pokemon barked and practically bounced over to the weakened cat.

"Litten, try to scratch it again!" Hau called again.

The fire cat swiped at Zella as she got closer and managed to get her on one of her front flippers, but Zella only spun around and smacked it in the face with it's tail. Litten fell once more and didn't get up again.

"Litten!" This time the boy didn't hesitate, he ran out and scooped his drenched Pokemon into his arms. I ran over to mine as well and checked the scratch on her fin. "Good job, girl!" I praised, and the Popplio jumped into my arms with a bark.

Hau returned his Pokemon and jogged over to me. "Hoo-ee! That gave me goosebumps! Sunne, right? Your Popplio was awesome!" He reached into his pocket and handed me a hundred pokedollars for winning. Not bad for my first battle here!

"Now that settles it! I'm going all out tomorrow!" Man, he's just full of energy!

"Thanks, Hau! And really, I had the type advantage, it was going to be a hard match for you, anyway." I said, not wanting to let the defeat damper is good mood.

Suddenly Hala steps forward with a serious face. "Hm? Sunne..."

I blink up at him in confusion. "Yeah?" I ask, tilting my head at him.

"Would you be so kind as to give me a look at that sparkling stone you have there?"

"Oh? Uh, yeah, sure..." Figuring he must of seen it sparkle from where it was sticking out of my bags side pocket, I pull it out and hand it over to him kind of reluctantly. He better give it back, I was looking forward to keeping it!

He takes it and examines it for a few moments before frowning in shock. "Could it be?!"

"What?" I ask, surprised at his awed tone.

"Tutu, isn't that...?" Hau trailed off and lifted his eyes from the stone to his grandfather.

"You were rescued by Tapu Koko at the bridge, right Sunne?" Hala asked, looking back up at me.

I nodded. "Yeah, it did. That's when I got that stone."

He hummed in thought. "So, it even deigned to give you that stone..." he said quietly, almost to himself, before nodding his head. "Perhaps you are here in Alola, Sunne, because this is where you are meant to be. Allow me to borrow this stone, for now."

What!

"What?" I burst out, shifting my eyes from my stone to his face.

He chuckled at my expression. "Fret not! I'll return it to you tomorrow evening."

"Well, alright..." I relented, trying to keep my tone even. He was a nice guy, he'll give it back.

I'm just touchy about the items I find, alright? My favorite thing to do is hunt for dropped items or money! People leave that stuff laying around all the time in Kanto, and I've been kind of excited to find pearls and stuff around the beaches here, too.

"It would seem Kukui was right about you. You have the makings of a fine trainer. You must do us the honor of joining in our festival tomorrow!"

Kukui and Lillie stopped talking behind the grandfather and grandson and walked over to join me. "First I'll make sure you get back home safe today, tough, Sunne. Lillie, you two should come with us too, yeah. I wouldn't want to lose you twice in one day!" He teased, causing the younger girl to blush.

"Ah, y-yes, and I'll keep an eye on..." she trailed off when she noticed that Nebby was once again out of the bag and floating next to her without a care in the world.

I couldn't help but burst out in laughter at it's innocent face, the others joining me soon after.

"Oh, you! Would you try not to to escape the very moment that you were told not to wander off!" Lillie huffed.

 **000**

Sunne:

Kukui escorted us home without incident, and introducing Zella to Mom and Purry went pretty well. The Meowth instantly pulled the other Pokemon into a game of tag, and I successfully managed to hide my torn shirt from Mom. No need to worry her for nothing, after all.

We decided to go to the beach for some bonding time with my new friend before it got too dark, the festival tomorrow put to the back of my mind as I played and bonded with my Pokemon.

 **000**

 **Like it so far?**


	3. Hau'oli City

**Every time Oak gives out a special Poke ball in game, I'm going to change it to Sunne _making_ that ball instead. Same with certain battle items. More with that down below.**

 **Also, for my little AU, people don't heal mid battle like we do in games. Maybe in official battles you can pause the battle in between rounds and use 1 potion on a mon, but other than that its just held items or Rotom Powers. (I'll also get into that later.)**

 **Hope you like it, I have no beta and tried to go through it for spell check, so if I missed anything, I'm sorry!**

 **000**

Sunne:

Well, it was a pretty eventful past two days.

Kukui had came over to pick me up for the festival in Iki Town, and gifted me some potions and Poke balls for if I wanted to catch some Pokemon on the way. I was grateful for the gifts that he just keeps giving me, but I had Purry with me now, so I felt fine with the team I already had. If I saw something new that I liked, I'd try to catch it.

So I'm at Iki Town. I was already in a pretty good mood from the many won battles along Route 1, but also about all the items I found along the way! Nothing too special, just some Poke balls and medicine, but free stuff is free stuff!

That was the Kanto motto after all, 'never look a gift Rapidash in the mouth!'

I'm having a grand time, enjoying the free food, the music and dancing, when that Hau kid comes over and asks me if I was ready to battle. Was this kid just going to battle me every time we meet? I mean, c'mon, I just wanted to enjoy the party!

I told him as much. "Uh, Sunne...you _do_ know that our battle is the main event of the party, right?" Hau asked, looking about as confused as I feel.

No, Hau. No I did not.

Well, _that_ would have been nice to be let in on earlier!

Before I even had time to really mentally prepare, the time comes for us to battle. I'm suddenly self conscious of my outfit, just another pair of comfy shorts, bright green, and a white v-neck t-shirt. No hat today. If I had known I was battling in front of everyone in town I would have dressed a little nicer!

I thought it would be another easy battle against Hau, and I started out with Zella again, but he caught me by surprise by sending out a new Pokemon. Must of been freshly caught.

Then I saw what it was.

He had a freaking Pichu. An electric type.

It wasn't that I was upset about an easy win with a type advantage. I mean, that's nice and all, but...it was an e _lectric type._

Something about me, I'm not really comfortable around electric type Pokemon. Really, I'm sort of terrified of them. It doesn't make much sense, being afraid of even cute electric types like Pikachu, but I've been hit with a stray Thunderbolt before as a kid, thanks to an idiot neighbor boy, and I haven't been the same since. If I see electric types in the wild I'll straight up run away.

I'm trying to face my fears, really, I am! I even gave Purry the TM for Thunderbolt to help, but it's just not the same as an electric type. It's a pretty bad fault to have as a trainer, considering I'll always go up against those types for the rest of my career.

Anyway, Hau's Pichu. My natural reaction to seeing it, which was to freeze up, caused my Popplio to get hit with a Thundershock, and I was pretty ashamed that her pained cry was what snapped me out of my daze. I ordered her to hit it back with Disarming Voice, a move she learned on the way to town, and lucked out when Hau made a mistake.

He only had to hit Zella with another Thundershock and she would have fainted, but he had Pichu tackle instead. The attack hit, and his Pichu must of had the static ability because Zella froze up, but still managed to get a critical hit with another Disarming Voice. Pichu was out, but my Popplio was weak and paralyzed.

Time to switch out.

He recalled Pichu and sent out Litten, I recalled Zella and threw out Purry's Luxury ball. There was no way he was winning against us now. He managed to hit Purry with weak Ember attack, but I called for Purry to used one of my favorite combo's with her. Bite, then Thunderbolt. It's hard to escape, at least for new trainers.

I won. People cheered. Hau shrugged and smiled, happy.

A good end to a good night.

Also, my sparkling stone was given back to me as a newly made Z-Ring! Something special to the Alolan region was the special attacks, Z-Moves, something I could now _do_ once I got a crystal!

Definitely a good end to the night.

 **000**

Sunne:

So the day after the festival, Lillie came by to walk me to Kukui's lab. Mom still couldn't really give me much money to start out with, so she gave me around five thousand cash and a Pokemon care kit. I wasn't too sore about it, it was thoughtful to give me anything at all, really.

I had some more trainer battles, fought some wild Pokemon, and then HAD A ROTOM PUT INTO MY POKEDEX. I didn't even know that was a thing! So now, I have super rare, possessed Pokedex!

I don't know if you know this about me, but I _love_ tinkering with stuff. My favorite class in school use to be Poke ball crafting class; a class taught by Kurt's (famous Poke ball maker in Johto) daughter. I learned to make custom balls from that class and just _loved_ taking them apart and playing around with the materials to make new stuff.

It was a key reason on why I liked finding free stuff. If I break a Poke ball by playing around with it's parts, it's cheap to replace.

Lucky for me, I brought a _lot_ of apricorns with me here to Alola, so I had plenty of materials to work with. All I needed was the base ingredient, which was Poke balls. I decided to save as much money as possible and just find as many Poke balls laying around as I could for now(there's always a dropped Poke ball here and there!).

I'll buy the better capsules that I couldn't make myself later if I needed too, like Luxury balls and Ultra balls, for example.

Can't quite get _those_ recipes down, yet.

But, back to my excitement about my ROTOM POKEDEX, now that I had a living, breathing piece of technology here (well sort of), I could _finally_ get some help in working on some of the more complicated crafts.

Like battle items, or just held items! Or turning regular items, like potions, into battle items!

There's a goal for those that I have, but I need to understand more about their make, first. Which is why having something hooked up to a mini index/encyclopedia is _perfect._

I don't even think Prof. Kukui fully realizes what he's just given me.

Ahem, anyway.

After that, he gave me my Island Challenge amulet, proof that I was a challenger. I could _finally_ start my journey through the region! Lillie and I bid Kukui and Hau(the boy showed up shortly after getting my amulet) and headed into Hau'oli City, my good mood causing me to ramble on and on. I started telling her stupid jokes when I couldn't think of anything else to really say, but at least they got her to giggle a bit! I even made Rotom laugh. What a cute tiny laugh it has!

The other girl said she was going to check out the clothes store down the road while I heal up my team in the PC. Kukui had mentioned that I might want to head to the trainer's school for some more experience before I explored around the areas of town that I haven't really been before. I've been a student of a trainer's school in Kanto, and tried telling him that, but he just said, "It's part of tradition, woo!" and that was that.

So here I am at the school.

Kukui and the teacher he had helping out said that I had to beat four students before I could leave. If I impressed them, he said I would be rewarded.

Huh, apparently this teacher taught one of Melemele's trial captains! Guess I'll use these battles to get an idea of how tough they'll be...

The first kid I tried to battle flat out refused me. Said I had to beat everyone else before he would even bother. Only the best of the best, he said.

Well then.

I bounced right on past His Strongest and found a youngster named Joey just inside the gate, and couldn't help but ask him if he had any relatives in Kanto. I coulda swore I met someone similar...

He only had a Metapod, so Zella didn't have too much trouble winning. After I won, I got some pocket change from him and he let me know that there was a cute athlete over by the furnace on the other side of the school. He looked awfully mischievous when he said so.

I jogged over to the other side and found her, not bothering to ask why she was hanging around the furnace to begin with, since she had a racket and all.

She was already temperamental when I asked for a battle. I wouldn't be surprised if she was tempted to take a swing at me if I annoyed her too much. (And was that one of her skirts she was putting in the furnace?)

Didn't take too long to battle her either, only needed my new Popplio again to win. I felt kind of like a bully at this point, but Kukui wouldn't let me continue until I did this, so what could I do?

I went on inside and asked a blonde teen about the remaining kids to battle. "There's one in the corner of by the stairs," she informed me absentmindedly while she shuffled through papers on the round table.

"Alright, thanks." I said, starting to turn, but stopped. "Oh, that's a cute dress, by the way!" I couldn't help but comment, my fashion sense taking over. "Where'd you get it?"

She paused at her task and looked up at me in surprised pleasure. "Oh, thank you! I got it at the mall right before they started doing renovations, but I'm sure it'll still be there when they open up again!"

I nodded, a little disappointed, and was about to leave when she stopped me. "Hey, I can tell by your amulet that you're a new trial goer, why don't you take this." I blinked in surprise when she handed me a small claw.

"That's a Quick Claw. If you have your Pokemon hold it, it'll have a greater chance of attacking first in battle. It's a good item to have for slow Pokemon." She informed me, then gave me a wink. "As thanks for the compliment, not too many people around here care about fashion, you know?"

I thanked her profusely, and went off to find the child near the stairs. That was another battle that only took about a minute, since she had a Bonsly. One well aimed Water Gun and it was out.

I did feel kind of bad that the excess water hit the lonely locker behind her, hopefully not much got wet.

Last but not least, I had to go back outside and battle that cocky kid hanging out in the battle courts.

 **000**

Sunne:

I took a stance inside my trainer box across from who I now know is Joseph. He confidently tossed out a Great ball that released an Alolan Grimer. It was a new version of it to me, so I went ahead and sent out a treat for him, my Kantonian Meowth.

I wasn't sure what type Grimer was here, so I treated it like a Poison-type and had Purry keep her distance, only attacking with Thunderbolt.

Joseph and his Pokemon was too surprised to really counter a Thunderbolt from a Meowth, so I was able to knock it out easy.

Ha! And everyone in my hometown said it was silly to a Meowth Thunderbolt? Look who's laughing now!

"It's pretty frustrating, but it looks like you're even stronger than _me."_ The boy huffed, and walked over to pay me for the win. Damn, he paid me over three-hundred dollars! There's _no way_ he has that much money from wining battles from all these little kids around here, he _has_ to get a huge allowance.

I think I heard Joseph mutter, "Maybe I should just aim for being pretty...?" as he walked away, and before I couldn't even wonder about the absurdity that, I heard the teacher call for me to meet her on the second floor over the PA.

"Wha-What terrible thing did you do to get called to the office already, Sunne?" I heard from battlefield sidelines. Oh, it was Lillie. Hi Lillie! Wha-Hey!

"Nothing!" I said indignantly. Why does she look so suspicious?!

"That's what you say..." she trailed off, and Rotom quickly added, "Zzrrt? You were called to the office already? Naughty girl! It's off to the second floor with you!"

"Rotom, you were _with me the whole time._ You know I didn't do anything!" I hissed at it while making my way towards the school. All it did was give me a cheeky, electronic giggle.

Mrs. Emily only wanted to reward me with a battle for beating her best students. Honestly, it was the toughest battle I've had so far.

She sent out her Magnemite against Zella, and we could only hurt it so much before she fainted. I managed to only flinch when I saw the Electric-Type, but couldn't quite lose the tenseness all the while. Zella got a pretty quick hit it with her Quick Claw equipped, but the Electric/Steel type held on to consciousness long enough to knock my Popplio out with a well aimed Electric Shock.

Saddened at my new friend's first loss, I quickly recalled her and threw out Purry's ball. I immediately told her to finish it with Shadow Ball (the only other TM move I had used on her), and finished the round with little effort. I felt my muscles relax at seeing the Magnemite leave the field.

I learned from fighting a trainer's Magnemite in Kanto. Never make direct contact if possible against Electric-Types, or they might paralyze you if they have the Static ability.

Her last Pokemon was interesting. An Alolan Meowth. The first thing she had it do was use Attract.

Crap, it's a male. Purry was instantly smitten.

I knew that Meowth here were Dark-type, so Shadow Ball was out. Purry used Thunderbolt when she flat out refused to use Scratch or Bite. I was lucky that Purry was much more experienced than Mrs. Emily's Meowth, or we would have lost after the couple of Bites it gave Purry.

While it sank it's teeth into her pale coat the third time, she finally fought through the attraction and shocked it, point blank. It went down with one bolt.

"Very good, Sunne!" Emily congratulated while returning her Pokemon. She rewarded me with over four-hundred dollars and five Great balls, the capsules being an extra for clearing the school initiation.

Sweet, free Great balls! Maybe, just _maybe_ I could take just _one_ of them apart to see what I could twist and merge the top half into...

"Hey, cousin!"

GAH!

I snapped out of my technical thoughts and turned around to see Kukui and a boy who looked about my age. Huh, don't see hair a blush pink too often. Natural blush pink, anyway.

It looked pretty good on him, to be honest.

"Greetings!" The fellow teen said with a charming smile. "Captain Ilima, here."

"Oh, hello there. Nice to meet you too." I greeted back.

His smile grew a bit. "I couldn't help but watch your battles earlier. You looked so very delightful in battle that I had no choice but to summon you here."

Uh, what?

"This is Sunne, who moved here to Alola from the Kanto region." Kukui introduced, smile still firmly in place. "She's got a real sense for how to use moves, and I think she's gonna go far as a Trainer, yeah!"

"Ah, I see!" Ilima then swept up one of my hands and cradled it with his own. "Welcome, newcomer! Might I say, you're name doesn't do you justice!"

Huh?

He started to caress the back of my hand in his slightly darker hands. "Why, you shine bright as the sun, my dear! Such a beauty, you are!" Oh, I guess I said that out loud.

"...Thanks...?" I said unsurely, not quite sure how to take the attention. Was he like this with everyone?

"I look forward to your brilliance in my trial!" He continued, and finally let go of my hand. "My trial is held in Verdant Cavern, I sincerely look forward to your challenge!"

I nodded to the others and descended down the stairs with a grace I didn't think I could copy if I tried.

"Uh," Kukui trailed off before letting out a small chuckle. "Well, I don't think I've ever seen Ilima so taken with someone so fast before..."

Huh, well, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone that taken with me, either.

 **000**

Sunne:

Hau found Lillie and I not fifteen paces away from the school. He let us know that the tourist shop was giving out free updates for Rotom 'Dexes, since they were so rare.

Well, I couldn't really pass that up, now could I?

My 'Dex could now snap pictures and use internet features. Neat!

While I was there, I met a man in a lab coat who was researching different species of Pokemon in the tourist shop. He said he would pay me to do his work for him, and well, that was easy money. I run into different wild Pokemon all the time, so now I'll just capture them and store them in storage. All I had to do was go show him their 'Dex info and I'll get paid.

I saw Lillie just coming out of the clothing shop up ahead, and was forced to stop again when she called me over.

Huh. Turns out her outfits are all picked out by her mom. Where is her mom, anyway?

Hey! More free stuff! She gave me a makeup bag! That actually sounds like a good thing to have. I don't normally wear much makeup, but I might change my mind, later. I spared a glance over to the store, and before I even knew it, I was inside.

Damn my weakness for new clothes.

I bought a new outfit.

Now wearing khaki shorts and a red and white flower tank top, I threw my single messy braid over my shoulder and started towards the part of town I haven't been to yet. While walking down the street, I decided to let my two Pokemon out of their Poke balls and walk with me. Rotom left my bag and floated all around us, snapping pictures as we walked and talked. I asked it about the wild Pokemon in town, how he learned to talk, if Kukui researched anything other than Pokemon moves (like say, battle items or Poke balls), and just about anything else that I could think of on our way to the uptown Pokemon Center.

 **000**

Sunne:

After healing up in the PC, I went out to look for wild Pokemon in the gated areas. I was curious about what I could find around town, and get paid to catch it.

What?

The first Pokemon I find in the grass is an Abra. I sent out Zella and Rotom flew out of my bag and looked like it was...snapping some pictures?

"Water gun!" I called out, and Zella obeyed immediately. I quickly looked to Rotom, absentmindedly seeing the water attack hit it's mark. "Rotom! What are you doing?" I ask incredulously.

"Zzt! I'm recording Abra's data! That's number ten, Sunne!"

I paused at that, Zella coming back to my side and after the hurt Abra teleported away. "Wait, what?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"What? Didn't you want to find that man ten Pokemon and bring him their data? Zrrtt?" Rotom asked, looking puzzled by my puzzlement.

"Well, yeah," I stammered. "Are you telling me that you already got it?"

It blinked at me. "Well, yeah! I can get all of a Pokemon's data just by getting a picture!" It floated closer to me. "Didn't you know that?"

I stared at the floating Pokedex. I slowly started to giggle. My giggles turned into full blown cackles as I grabbed the startled Pokemon and hugged it to my chest with glee. This was seriously the best Pokedex in the world! I didn't even need to waste Poke balls on Pokemon I didn't intend to use!

I returned Zella to her Poke ball and practically skipped back to the scientist. Turns out lil' Rotom's been snapping every Pokemon I've seen since I got it, so all of Kukui's Pokemon in his lab was recorded and so was all the new Pokemon I battled from then to now.

I found the man again and showed him the ten pages of info that he wanted. He thanked me with ten ULTRA BALLS.

Well, it's not heaps of cash, but it was still a great reward! I thanked him profusely before heading back out of the tourist shop and into uptown.

While making my way down the road past the PC, I overheard a couple of people talking as I walked by and couldn't help but focus on what they were saying when I heard the word 'gang'.

"I saw those Skull gang numskulls loitering around the Marina again. I reported to the Captain, of course." The man said, a hand adjusting his tie.

"This is what happens when young people have nothing to do and too much time on their hands!" His companion scoffed, while rolling her eyes behind her glasses.

Hey, I take offense to that!

"What a bunch of useless thugs!" The man continued, "All they do is drag trainers into battles they don't want and try to steal people's Pokemon!"

Wait.

"I heard they keep trying to sneak into the trial site to steal Pokemon to sell..." the lady said seriously, before letting out a mocking laugh. "and that they fail every single time!"

This sounds awfully familiar...

I heard them say some other things as well, but I was too lost in thought to really pick up anything relevant.

So, Kanto isn't the only place to have gang issues. My only hope is that this 'Skull gang' isn't _nearly_ as bad as the Rocket gang...

"Did I hear someone say Skull gang? In the Marina? Zz!" Rotom exclaimed, popping out of my bag again to talk face to face.

"Yeah," I confirmed glancing at it. "We might want to be careful around there."

"Careful?" Rotom reiterated. "Why? They don't sound so tough! I bet you could beat them, easy!"

I flashed my Pokedex a wide smile hearing that. "Thanks, Rotom! But when it comes to gangs, they don't always play fair." I narrowed my eyes and saw a familiar figure up ahead.

"Oh? Zzt, have you run into gangs before, Sunne?"

I held up a hand and waved big. "Hey, Hau!" I called out to the younger boy, not-so-subtly evading Rotom's question.

Hau turned at my greeting and ran up to me with a grin. "Howzit, Sunne! If you're looking for good eats, you've found 'em!"

I nodded and rubbed my tummy. "Yeah, I'm definitely headed in to eat before I do anything else. It's way past lunch time, I'm starving!" I admitted and told Hau that I would meet up with him again later.

I let out Purry and Zella while waiting to be seated and tried not to drool at the smells wafting from the back of the restaurant.

 **000**

Sunne:

Stomachs now full, my Pokemon were resting inside their balls again as I made my way towards the Marina, cautiously looking around for any suspicious types. Instead, I found Ilima.

Wasn't sure how to feel about that.

I decided that he was better than gang members, and gave a small smile. "Hey, Captain. What's up?"

His eyes lit up when he saw me. "Ah, Sunne! Greetings!" He said in a suave voice, and I tried not to blush. Still not used to being flirted with so _obviously._

"Yo, yo, yo, check it!" A brash voice cut in from behind me, "Whenever, wherever we meet you, Skull gang don't even greet you!" Another added, their voice slightly more nasal sounding. I quickly turned around at hearing 'skull gang.'

Two guys wearing all black swaggered up to us, throwing their hands up in gang signs. They were wearing black tank tops and baggy sweat pants, with bandanas covering the lower half of their faces and the top of their heads. It definitely wasn't hard to guess that they were the Skull gang with all the skull logos.

"So, Cap, just give up the Pokemon, yo." The first one to speak continued, managing to look smug, even though only his eyes were visible.

I couldn't help but feel wary, but Ilima only blinked at them before turning back to me with another charming smile. "So, already made your way to the south Hau'oli pier, hmm?"

"Uh..." I wasn't what to say. I kept glancing between him and the two thugs, who were getting slowly loosing their smug looks and looking incredulous.

"Yo!" The nasally one exclaimed, and they ran up to us and got in Ilima's face. "What, what?! Why you trying to act hard when we're already hard as bone out here, homie?"

"Yo, let's check these fools." The other spat, glaring at the trial captain. Three guesses who _he_ wanted to fight.

Ilima scoffed and looked to me again. "Oh my...how terrifying..." He raised an eyebrow at me, still smiling as if we didn't have gang members picking a fight with us. I'll give him this, that's mighty confident. "Only thieves steal people's Pokemon. I won't stand for it. Sunne, if you would take care of that one?"

I looked to the first guy that he nodded to and found him already facing me. I gave him a cute smile. Maybe we could talk this over...?

The thug scoffed pulled out a Safari ball from his pants' pocket. Huh, guess not. "Yo, check how I change the game with my mad battling skills!"

I quickly back peddled when he threw the ball straight up, ripping what I hoped was my Popplio's Poke ball from my belt as I did so.

Just as I threw out my Poke ball, his Zubat was released and instantly flew at me. I dodged to the side and it flew past me harmlessly. Yeah, this reminds me of gangs, alright. Not fighting fair!

Zella was finally released from her capsule bounced in front of my protectively. "Water gun!"

"Bite!" The thug ordered.

Our water gun managed to hit, but the bat just kept coming, and it sunk it's fangs into Zella.

She cried out in pain, and flailed her flippers to try to shake the bat off. "Quick, Disarming Voice, Zella!"

Before it's trainer could call out a command, Zella turned her snout into Zubat's large ear and let out it's attack, causing the poison/flying type to instantly faint.

I ran over to Zella and my opponent just seemed to gape at us. "For real?! Over...already?!" He exclaimed and quickly returned his Pokemon. "No fair!"

I saw that Ilima had a Smeargle out and had no problems winning his battle, either. His opponent started to back away and quickly called out to his friend, "Let's get up out of this port, B! Nobody has to know about this!"

My opponent, apparently B, nodded quickly threw some pokedollars at me before joined him. "We don't need your wack Pokemon anyway, Ilima!" B shouted from over his shoulder. "Let's go, A!"

I picked up Zella and walked over to join Ilima, both of us watching them run away. Huh, I guess Rotom was right, they really _weren't_ too big of a deal.

"My thanks to you and your Pokemon. Why don't I buy you dinner to express my thanks, dear?" He said, his smile stretching a bit.

"O-oh," I stuttered, caught off guard. "Um, I actually just ate before I came here..."

He seemed to deflate a bit hearing that. "Oh well. I'll heal your Pokemon instead, then." The captain pulled out a potion from his pocket and sprayed Zella's hurt fin.

"Bwark!" She barked out in thanks, clapping her fins together. I smiled down at her and gave her a pet on the head. "Thanks, Ilima."

"Not a problem." He brought a hand up to his chin. "I must admit, I've been wondering about you since I saw you at the trainer's school. Prof. Kukui brought you along, and you and your Pokemon seemed to defeat our teacher so effortlessly!"

I ran a hand over my braid and laughed a bit in embarrassment. "Well, I have a bit of an advantage, I'm not a brand new trainer. My Meowth and I already have experience from Kanto-"

"Ah, you don't say!" Ilima exclaimed, and suddenly held up an Ultra ball. "Very well then! Allow me to see if you're ready for my trial! I simply _must_ have a friendly battle with you!"

Well, alright then.

"Sure, why not?" I saw with a grin, Zella hopping out of my arms. "I'll go ahead and start with Zella!"

Ilima moved back enough paces to be a safe distance away. "Behold the magnificent Pokemon of the one and only Captain Ilima!" He threw out the Ultra ball and released a Yungoose. The sight of him standing behind his Yungoose with his fist up and an excited grin on his face was enough to make me giggle.

"Zella, Water Gun!" I commanded with a similar grin.

She let loose a small blast of water at her opponent, but the Yungoose just leaped right over it. "Leer!" Ilima called, and the normal type leered at my water type with glowing eyes. Not to be deterred, I told Zella to use Water Gun again, this time the attack hitting it's mark. The Yungoose Leered again, but I just had Zella keep using Water Gun, not willing to give it the chance to land a hit on her when it finally attacked.

Finally, it happened. "Yungoose, Tackle!" Ilima commanded with a fist pump, and the weakened Pokemon ran at us with revenge in it's glare.

Aw, hell no. "Zella, Disarming Voice!" My Popplio took a deep breath, but right as she released her attack, Yungoose threw itself at her, and hit her with a devastating tackle, causing her to be knocked out. I underestimated how weak her defenses were from the many leers she took.

"Zella!" I cried out, pointing her Poke ball at her. "Return!" She turned into white matter under the fainted Yungoose and zipped back into her Poke ball. "Sorry, girl." I whispered to her ball, not sure if she could really hear me, before swapping it out for Purry's Luxury ball.

Ilima did the same, and sent out his Smeargle that battled the Skull thug. "Purry, you can do it!" I encouraged, throwing out her ball. I could see Ilima's grin grow from here when my Meowth materialized.

"Bite!" I called, and the Kantonian cat rushed it, teeth bared.

"Leafage!" Ilima countered, and a small storm of leaves rushed out of Smeargle's tail (brush?) and hit the surprised Purry head on. She stopped and rubbed at her injured fact, meowing her displeasure. "Bite it, Purry! You can get him!" I called out again, wincing a bit when she turned back to give me a small glare before doing as I commanded.

Yeah, I was going to have to give her lots of treats and attention after this. She _hates_ getting her fur dirty, and it was absolutely filthy just from that one attack.

Purry leaped at the normal type and bit down on it's shoulder, her jaws clamping down even harder when Ilima had it attack with another Leafage.

Payback's a bitch. "Thunderbolt!"

Electricity danced along my Meowth's fur and the Smeargle began to panic. It's trainer, too. Eager to get the Smeargle back for the Leafage attacks, the cat quickly fired off the thunderbolt, doing enough damage to knock it out.

I quickly returned her to her Poke ball once I saw the battle was over, seeing that she was pretty weak too.

"Yes! You have emerged victorious!" Ilima said while returning his Smeargle. He walked over and handed me twelve hundred dollars for winning. Oh, time to stock up on potions!

Actually, I might see if I could buy some extra parts, or just their reject items with the rest. I've been meaning to tinker with the potion bottles and see if I could make something a little more useful for mid-battle...

Oh? Oops, Ilima was saying something. And staring expectantly. I nodded my head, hoping that would be enough of an answer.

"You can get there from Route 2. That Rotom Dex of yours will show you the way." He winked at me. "I bid you Alola." He said before walking back towards town.

Um, what was past Route 2?

"Hey, weren't you listening? He said his trial was just past Route 2! Don't worry, zzt, I'll mark my map so we know where to go!"

Oh, I must of said that out loud. "Thanks, Rotom!" I said and quickly made my way into town as well, but quickly stopped when a police officer called me over.

"Excuse me, miss." The officer with a small mustache said, "Did two Skull gang members come by this way?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they challenged me and captain Ilima to a battle but we fought them off. They ran back into town..."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Damn, just missed them, huh?" He said wearily and gave me a grateful smile. "Well, thank you. At least I know they were in this area, so they couldn't have gotten far. We have a Senior Officer on his way here from Ula'ula Island whose looking for some specific Skull thugs, so I thought I'd help him out, maybe find them myself."

I blinked at that. "Really? What did these two do to warrant that?"

He shrugged and rested his hands on his utility belt. "Don't know the specifics, just that they have something to do with a stolen Pokemon. If they have _him_ after them, they must of done something really bad, or just really irritated him."

"Oh...alright then..." I trailed off, not sure what to say. "I'll contact you guys if I see them again, if you'd like? My Rotom Dex works as a phone."

He nodded and smiled gratefully at me. "Thank you, young trainer. If you see _or_ hear anything, give us a call." He told me the Hau'oli Police station's number and continued on his way, questioning some other people along the pier.

I shrugged and headed back towards the shopping district once more, eager to heal my team and the PC.

 **000**

Sunne:

After I healing up at the PC, I made a quick stop at the local mart and bought some stuff. Mostly some more potions, put I also picked up some medicine and an escape rope, just in case. I asked the clerks where the nearest mart was that sold everyday things was, and I quickly made my way there to buy some things before I headed out of town. It wasn't far, just down the road across from the barber shop. I picked up what I needed there and headed for Route 2.

I battled a blonde beauty not even ten steps into the Route, Purry made quick work of her Ghastly. I went through some grass, looking for new wild Pokemon, but didn't see anything that I really wanted to catch.

I took a grassy path to the right and went to Hau'oli Cemetery, wanting to catch a picture of Driftloon for a woman in the uptown PC back in town. A man with a cute Squirtle tie challenged me to a battle, saying that it might cheer him up.

Kind of disrespectful, but okay...

I felt kind of bad that Zella took his Alolan Diglet (take a picture, Rotom!) down with one hit. Not much of a distraction I suppose.

I hung around the cemetery for almost an hour, battling trainers, looking for Driftloon, and finding random items.

I finally found one, after fighting off about twenty Ghastly and a dozen Misdreavus. Rotom snapped a picture, and Zella took it out with a couple well aimed Water Guns. Right after the battle Zella learned Aqua Jet, and I gave her my extra Malasada as a reward.

I kept her out of her Poke ball and let out Purry as well, and left the cemetery and decided to take a quick break before doing anything else. We all sat under the shade of a tree by the Route 2 path, and I fed Purry some of her favorite Poke beans while she curled up on my lap. I was half watching Zella practice her new move out a few yards out, and half playing around with the items I bought at the mart.

I uncapped the top of a potion and tried to carefully pour the healing liquid into an empty balloon. My idea came from playing tag with water balloons with Zella shortly after I got her. If I could get a potion inside a balloon, maybe I could just throw it at my Pokemon in the middle of battle and heal them!

There were some battle items that Pokemon could heal that let them do that, like berries and leftovers, but this would heal _so much more_ and just be so much better.

I filled up a balloon and bounced it around in my hands. It was only a little bigger than a Poke ball, so it might be good practice with my aim, too.

"Zzt, you really think that'll work, pal?" Rotom asked from where it'd been floating by my head, with and open page up about a regular potion's chemistry on it's screen. I don't think it has faith in my abilities!

"It'll work out, Rotom!" I said in an optimistic tone. "That's why I'm going to test it out in a non-lethal wild battle! I would just have my two Pokemon mock battle, but Purry here needs her rest, and I doubt she'll go easy on Zella if she's tired and cranky."

I gently moved Purry off of my lap and onto the grass next to me and called for Zella. "Be right back, girl. We'll just be over there for a quick test, okay?" I said to the cat, and pointed over to the tall grass a little ways away. Purry opened one eye to see where I meant and promptly went back to sleep. Well, she knew we wouldn't be far.

"Rotom, would you mind recording how it goes? Just in case I need to go back over anything?" I ask the Dex, stifling a giggle when it squawked a the sudden shower of water from Zella as she Aqua Jet her way over to me.

"Zzrt! Easy on the goods! Yeah, sure thing, pal!"

We swept into the grass and quickly found a wild Meowth. Zella was already a little scuffed up from earlier battles, so I only had to wait until she got hurt with a scratch before it was time for my item.

My eyes narrowed and I cocked my arm back, waiting for the right moment to chuck the balloon at my partner. She bounced around, avoiding more scratches, and I told her to attack with Pound. She whipped her tail around and smacked the wild cat away from her, and I threw the balloon with all my might.

I watched it wobble in the air a bit, the liquid inside sloshing around, before it smacked my Popplio on the top of her head.

However, it didn't burst open like I thought it would, but instead bounced off. It rebounded in the direction of the still dazed Meowth, and burst open on it's legs.

...C'mon, really?

We all just kind of paused. Zella gave me a blank stare, probably wondering why I threw a water balloon at her at a time like this, the Meowth was looking at it's wet fur in confusion, and I just wanted to face palm.

"Zz, zz?" I heard Rotom say from where it was documenting. Yeah. Zz, indeed.

I did notice that the Meowth seemed to be a little healthier, but it didn't seem as healed as it should be from the cheap potion. Maybe it's potency was weakened? No, I think only a bit of the liquid got on it, most of it scattered when the balloon burst.

Well, this was a fail.

I quickly recalled Zella (who was still staring at me), and ran away while the Meowth was still confused.

I rejoined my own Meowth at our tree and let Zella out again. "Sorry about that, Zella." I apologized and took a regular potion out and sprayed her wounds. She barked and just butt her head against my chin happily. Well, at least I know she loves me anyway.

"So, balloon are a no go, huh?" Rotom asked, and scratched it's head with a little limb. Huh.

"Yeah, balloons are out." I confirmed. I'll have to figure out another way to use a potion in battle. I'll have to figure out a way to get all the liquid onto my Pokemon too.

Ugh, I'll have to think on this.

I checked the sky and saw that the sky was getting kind of orange. "Hey, Rotom...what time is it?"

"It's 7:18 P.M." It chirped.

Huh. "Well, it's getting kind of late. I don't really want to travel all the way back home from here, but I don't have any camping gear with me..." I looked around and saw an elderly lady walking up the path

"Uh, oi! I mean, Alola! Wait!" I cried after her and quickly ran to catch her.

I asked her if she knew of any motels around, and she said that there was one a little further on Route 2. There weren't too many rooms left, but they were pretty affordable. Perfect.

I thanked her and returned to where Rotom and Purry were waiting. "Alright guys, we're going to stay the night at the motel further ahead. It'll get dark soon." I said, reaching down to pull my bag from the ground by Purry and returned the sleeping cat to her Luxury ball. "Zzt! Sounds good, partner! But if you change your mind, don't forget that I have the Professor's phone number on speed dial! He wouldn't mind coming up to get us!"

I to keep my face blank and not show how uncomfortable I was hearing that. "Well, I suppose...I don't really want to rely on him though, you know? I'm almost seventeen, and I need to get used to being independent as a true trainer." I stated, then flashed Rotom a quick smile. "If I really need help I'll call him though, alright?"

Rotom said that was fine, and decided to rest in my bag until we got to the motel.

 **000**

Sunne:

I had just gotten into the motel lobby and got a room for five thousand pokedollars. The clerk handed me my room key when an old man dressed in khaki shorts and a vest came rushing in, looking distraught.

"Oh, please tell me, have any of you seen my Meowth?" He asked, his voice sounding wobbly.

Oh dear, was he going to cry?

"Um, no sir, I'm sorry, haven't seen any..." The desk clerk said, trailing off when the other man let out a wail.

"Oh, what am I to do?!" He cried, covering his face with his hands.

I couldn't help but be concerned. "Uh, hey...don't cry..." I said softly and took a step closer. "Where did you last see it?"

"Oh, my widdle Meowth is lost! It's so very timid and shy, so I'm sure that it must be hiding someplace..."

"Um-"

"Ohhhh my poor, poor Meowth! My heart breaks just thinking about you! I want to find you and hug you and love you!"

"Uh, okay...I'll go out and see if I can find it, alright?" I say weakly, but I'm pretty sure he can't hear me, so I leave him there with the uncomfortable motel clerk.

I sigh as I look around the parking lot for any sign of a tail or whiskers. I've had the same problem with Purry before when Mom first got her, and one place she liked to hide was...

I immediately started looking under the parked cars, and didn't see anything until I got to the last one.

"Hsss! Mreowr!" Meowth was crouched beneath the car and trying to scare me off.

"Hey...it's okay," I cooed at it, wriggling my fingers at it slowly. "I won't hurt you,"

"Meow?" It cried out again, but didn't move closer. I still couldn't reach it. I crouched down even lower and tried a different tactic. "Mmeow..." I meowed softly, trying to calm it. It tilted it's head at me. I smiled and purred at it from deep in my throat, sounding very similar to a real cat purr.

What? Purry loves it when I do this! Calms her right down.

I keep purring until the Meowth eventually starts to purr back, and crawls it's way towards me. I slowly reach out and gently rub it's ears, eventually coaxing it out from under the truck.

"Huh, and here I thought you were just pretending to be a cat, girl."

WHOTHEFU-OW!

I slammed my head on the bumper of the car, forgetting I was still partway under it, when I heard a deep, hoarse voice from almost directly behind me. I cursed in pain, but quickly opened my eyes (when did I shut them?) when the Meowth hissed. I yelped when it suddenly rushed by my head and ran away.

"W-wait!" I called after in vain, gripping the back of my head in pain and rolled over to watch the cat disappear into the brush on the other side of the lot.

Damn. It.

I squinted up at the tall figure who screwed up my mission, a few choice words on the tip of my tongue, but couldn't force the words out when I was met with the most bewitching scarlet red eyes.

 **000**

 **Guess who's POV is next?**

 **Same day, but from Nanu. Now that they've met, I'm going to start writing both POV's together in most chapters.**

 **Also, didn't really plan for them to meet this early, but it happened that way.**

 **You like? You hate? I love likes and follows, and maybe even reviews...**


	4. Cat's in the Cradle

**Alola.**

 **Here's some Nanu for ya'll.**

 **I picture Nanu's voice being like Soldier 76 from Overwatch but with more of a 'I don't give a fuck' tone, y'know? It's what I've imagined since I first encountered him in the game.**

 **000**

Nanu:

It was warm. I heard purring. I smelled cat hair.

I opened my eyes. I didn't really want to, but I had been doing things I didn't want to do for a long time. I blinked my half lidded eyes to clear away the sleep and looked around.

My thick comforter was draped over me, and Meowth surrounded me, still curled up, asleep. The blank, pale walls of my bedroom in the Po Town police station met my gaze.

My eyes drifted over to the red, glowing numbers of my electronic clock and see that it's six in the morning, my internal alarm clock as precise as ever.

Good morning, you wretch. It's another day.

"Alright, let me up and I'll get some food out for you." I rasp out, my voice a little rough from disuse. The Meowth cry out their displeasure at having to move, but do so anyway. I pull myself out of bed clad only in boxer briefs, and make my way out of my room, past my little kitchen, and into the station where the bathroom was located.

Couldn't start my day until I showered and drank some coffee.

I shaved, got dressed in a freshly washed red t-shirt and black pants before exiting the bathroom. I immediately trekked around the various Pokemon toys and shoes that have been dragged out all over the floor over the course of the night.

My Krookodile's child has the strangest obsession with shoes. But only the left ones.

I started a pot of coffee and began picking up around the station. I cleared the floor so it wasn't such a hazard to walk through, just in case I have people come by needing their Kahuna, and start pouring food for the Pokemon.

My Krokorok and Sableye wandered over from the couch, the former having a now shredded sandal hanging from his jaws, dropping it only to eat. I sighed at the sight of the chewed shoe. Well, need to go buy some more colors, now. Only have red and black now. I rubbed at my temples and gave the oblivious Pokemon a glare.

What a hassle.

The coffee machine went off and I felt some relief flood through me. I shuffled over and only just poured myself a mug full when the office phone went off.

I paused in lifting my mug to my lips and blinked sluggishly. Then rolled my eyes, cursing.

Really? This early in the damn morning?

I reluctantly headed towards the offending thing and answered. "Yeah?"

"Oh! Officer Nanu!" An annoyingly high voice screeched through other end. I jerked the phone away from poor ear with a grimace, and heard some of the nearby Meowth hiss. "It's just awful!" You got that right. "Those Skull punks have gone too far!"

"Lady, slow down. What's the issue." I sigh, running a hand through my already disheveled hair.

"Officer, those Skull gang thugs have run off with my darling Spinda! Please, you have to get it back and arrest those punks!"

All was silent for a moment while I processed that.

"So," I ground out evenly, "You called me at seven-thirty in the morning...about a stolen Pokemon report?"

"Well of course!" She said as if it were obvious.

I suppose it was. "Lady...there are police officers in Malie City and Tapu Village. Why the hell did you think _I_ was needed for this?"

There was a huff from the receiver. "Well, _of course_ I already called them! I live here in Tapu, and all the officers I asked to help were _beaten_!"

I raised a brow at that. "Beaten you say?" I say skeptically. I've seen some of those lowly grunts battle, and it wasn't anything impressive.

"Yes! Some pink haired girl came in and beat all of them! She protected the two thugs while they ran away with my Pokemon!"

I paused at that. A certain pink haired executive came to mind hearing that. Yeah, I can see _her_ wiping out some of the Tapu cops, no problem. Unlike the lowly grunts of the Skull gang, she was one of the best, right under the big boss himself.

Damn.

"Now, doesn't this seem like a _kahuna_ problem, Officer?" The woman continued.

Damn again.

I let out a weary sigh. "All right, lady. I'll look into it. I'll head over to the Village within the hour."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you, Off-" I cut her off by hanging up and dropping the phone back onto my desk.

There goes having a lazy morning.

I walked back to my bedroom and grabbed my Z-ring and Z crystal, and thought about who to take with me. Persian for sure. Three in my party should be plenty to handle this, so...

Making a quick decision, I picked up Krookodile and my Honchkrow Corvus' Ultra balls and snap them onto my belt. I grab my uniform shirt and throw it on, leaving it unbuttoned.

I slipped on my slide sandals and took stock. Even for a wretch like me, it was chilly out, because of the rain. Usually it was a warm rain, but I guess not today.

I had my Pokemon, some potions, a gun and cuffs, some money in my pocket, and a pack of cigarettes. There's a breakfast special in the Pokemon Cenrer Cafe where I can get more Komala Coffee and food cheap. A man doesn't need much more.

Except a place to go.

Well, I had that now, didn't I? Tapu Village was as good a place as any.

 **000**

Nanu:

Getting to Tapu quickly wasn't much of a hassle, I drove my police cruiser (didn't really care for the Ride Pager, call me old fashioned) to Route 14 after eating breakfast at the Malie City PC. I went ahead and parked the car just outside of town and continued the rest of the way on foot. Coffee in hand, I walked into the colder area, just wanting to get the whole thing over with so I could go back home.

I drained the last of my coffee when I saw an older gentleman and a duo of Spinda over at the edge of the village. Ah, I should of known.

The man locked eyes with me and immediately started over, relief clear on his face. "Oh, kahuna, thank goodness you've come!" He gasped, his couple of Spinda running into what I guessed was their house.

"Was your wife the one who filed the missing Pokemon report?" I droned, now deducing that this was the trainer of the dancing Spinda group I've heard about. Haven't seen it, but heard folks like them.

He nodded. "Yes, we're very sorry to bother you, Officer, but we're out of options! The police here can't help, so we need someone stronger!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Your wife said that it was her Spinda that was stolen?" I asked in a bland tone.

The man looked slightly embarrassed, now. "Well, technically, it is hers. She let's it dance in my show, probably not anymore after this though..." He said that last part mostly to himself.

"And when did this happen?"

"Ah, our Spinda was stolen late last night. It was already dark, and we heard from some neighbors that those thugs had lured it over to them with a handful of berries. It was just sitting on our porch one minute, and then when I came back out, it was gone!" the man said, running a hand over his face.

I let out a hum, and idly scratched at my jaw. "Know where I can find those eye witnesses? Need to speak to them too."

He only knew that they were out and about in town, so I thanked him and left before his wife decided to come out. Already had enough of her earlier over the phone.

I talked to a few teens near the oasis about the skirmish, and they confirmed that yes, it was indeed Plumeria that defeated them in battle, and that they ran off towards Mt. Lanakila, probably thinking they could lose the law up there.

Well, they were half right.

The Tapu officers say they heard the Skull gang talking about finding some caves near the Pokemon center up there. I nodded and rubbed at the back of my neck. "Say, you mind if I borrow a coat and some boots? Damn cold up the mountain..." I trailed off, looking pointedly at my bare toes.

"Sure!" A younger officer agreeded excitingly. "Anything you need, sir!"

I grunted out a thanks and took the offered items from the overzealous man.

"Of course! You can borrow some of our hats or earmuffs too, if you'd like." He continued on while I slipped my arms through the coat. He yapped about as much as the Herdier at his feet. "Really, whatever you need-"

"Oh, shut it already, Kai." Another cop interrupted from the desk. "He's the Legendary 000, he can handle a short trip up the mountain."

I paused at zipping up my coat hearing that, and stared at the man with flat, unblinking eyes. He held my gaze for a moment before looking away, uncomfortable.

After slipping my feet into a pair of boots and stuffing my slides into the thick coat's pocket, I walked out of the station without so much of a goodbye.

I pulled my pack of cigarettes out of my pant's pocket and fished for my cheap lighter, all the while eyeing the construction workers speaking around the city limit. There was a small crew there going over what looked like blueprints.

I perused them as I flicked open the pack and wrapped my lips around a tobacco stick, and fished around for my lighter. I would have to inquire about that when I get back down, I need to make sure nobody is trying to build on sacred land again. Don't want a repeat of what happened to the mart.

Starting up the mountain, I kept watch for wild Pokemon. I found myself doing so much more often here in Alola. Back when I was stationed in Castelia City, the city that never sleeps, wild Pokemon were rare, the monsters were the men, there.

The wind picked up and the snow flew around me. It was cold, my face unprotected by the conditions, but I ignored it. After a while, I got to the fork in the path that leads to the Pokemon Center, and continued to up until I can see the caves that the Skull gang were supposedly hiding out in the distance.

Not a single wild Pokemon had come out to bother me, something I was grateful for. The trek up here already took about an hour according to my cellphone. This small case was taking longer than I hoped.

My ears were stinging, my nose numb. Just a little further to somewhere a little warmer.

Suddenly I stopped, and listened.

There was something in the air. Something in the wind. Trouble was coming fast.

A Crabominable erupted out of the snow under me. I rode him up, jumped off, tossing out an Ultra ball while in the air, and rolled to my feet, thankful that the snow to cushion my fall.

Great. Just _fucking_ great.

It gave an angry roar, and came at me, swinging its huge pincers. Corvus swept down and lifted me up by my arms and out of harms way. It dropped me a little ways away, and I quickly had it Steel Wing the large crab.

It roared with rage, coming at us again. We dodged and attacked, trying to get through it's thick defense. It was strong. I needed to concentrate on defense, I couldn't afford to let it land even one blow on my Honchkrow.

It suddenly threw out an arm and summoned a Blizzard attack. I thought we were out of luck the second I saw it form, but thankfully Corvus has had more then a few Blizzard thrown at him in his life, and he managed to evade the worst of it. This was clearly an abandoned Crabominable, if it had TM moves. No wonder it was angry.

To hell with it. I abandoned defense and ordered Corvus to Brave Bird. He flew at the fighting type in a blaze, and blood flew.

I drew closer to the downed monster and saw that it was alive, only unconscious. I pulled out a small potion and sprayed the most serious wounds to make sure it wouldn't bleed out. I used a super potion on my Honchkrow, healing most of his hurts.

I didn't bring any empty capsules, but I'll make sure to swing by the Pokemon Center up here before I head back to town. I'll have to let the young bloods down in the Village know about this Crabominable so they could try to find it's former trainer. Little shit will be fined for releasing a fully evolved Pokemon into the wild without paying to remove it's TM moves.

Somebody could have been seriously hurt if it caught a weaker trainer unawares.

With a huff, I recalled Corvus and continued towards the caves, a little quicker now.

I'm already sick of today, and it's not even noon.

 **000**

Nanu:

"I hope you punks are happy."

The two blue haired Skull grunts whipped around from where they were huddled together, trying to get warm.

"You've caused me a lot of hassle this morning, and that's got me in a bad mood." I tell them flatly, idly toying with the dark Z-crystal hanging from my neck. They catch my meaning almost immediately.

"Ay, yo! We ain't got no beef with you, dude!" Tweedle dee said, backing up a bit.

Tweedle dum, however, took a step forward. "Yeah, old man Nanu! We're just minding our own business here! We just...camping!"

"Oh, yeah?" I said, unimpressed. "You're just up here...camping...just you two and a Spinda?"

They blanched at that.

"Wha-no! We ain't got no Spinda! Our Pokemon aren't even healthy! We just resting here until we can heal up at the Pokemon Center!"

"Did you give the Spinda over to Plumeria, then?" I continued over them, getting more irritated by the second. I swear, if the Spinda I'm looking for isn't even here...

They clammed up at hearing their 'big sisters' name. Predictable, really.

I let a little bit of emotion leak onto my face, and saw the two grunt tense up when I met their eyes. "I'm not going to ask again, boys." I warn softly. My voice didn't rise higher than my usual grizzly tenor, but they both flinched like I shouted at them. "I've already gotten reports from around the Village, and you didn't hurt anybody when stealing the Pokemon. You lured it with food, and grabbed it. You also had clean battles with everyone you ran from. Heh, well, as clean as two on one can be..."

I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to massage the sore muscles. Must of moved my head wrong when dodging that damn Crabominable. "I won't take you in now, and I'm sure that lady and her husband will want to press charges, but they haven't yet, and all I'm tasked with is getting the Spinda back."

They looked at each other, and then turned around so that their backs were to me and started to have a whispered conversation. They actually did that.

I rolled my eyes and silently asked for patience.

They finally turned back to me after a full minute, and nodded. "Aight, old man, we'll tell you where the Spinda was taken, okay? But there's conditions!"

"You don't make those terms, boy." I ground out irritably, more emotion leaking through. "I can still just as easily arrest you here and now and leave you two at the Pokemon Center for pickup."

His eyes widened and he pulled his bandanna down so that it was off of his face, revealing a scowl. "Look, just don't tell nobody that we told you anything, aight? We ain't no rats, but it was stupid to even steal the Spinda in the first place! The new dudes we were with were the ones who wanted to do it, but they were shadowing big sis so they asked us to do it!"

"Yeah!" The other chimed in, and my eyes cut over to him. "They said they would split the profit with us when they sold it! A specially trained Spinda who's part of a dance group? It was gonna sell for lots of paper, y'know?"

"And then, they just dipped out with the Spinda when the heat got too hot, yo!"

"They said they were bookin' it to Melemele to meet their buyer and discuss prices!"

"Was gonna do a job for the boss over there too, something about rare trial Pokemon!"

"Big sis came and helped up escape the cops, and said to wait here until she came back!"

I held up a hand to stop them, and they instantly closed their mouths.

Melemele Island. If that's where the Spinda was, then that was where I needed to be. "Do you know where on Melemele they were meeting the buyer?"

I sighed when they shook their heads. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Without further ado, I turned and made my way out of the cave, warning them that if they were the cause of me having to be involved again, they would regret it.

Hearing one of them gulp loudly behind me made my sour mood lighten a tiny bit.

 **000**

Nanu:

I stopped by the Mt. Lanakila PC to buy some Poke balls before heading back down the mountain. I still needed to capture the Crabominable and drop it off at the Tapu station before I headed out to Melemele.

There was no stopping the sigh that exploded out of my mouth. I had to sail all the way over to Melemele. That trip was going to take longer than I'd like already, and I didn't even know where those damn punks were to begin with. Hopefully, they were in Hau'oli City.

I almost walked right past the wooly crab when I got back to the clearing of our battle. The light snowfall had covered the already camoflouged Pokemon, and I only found it by seeing the still gouged marks in the ground from Corvus' Brave Bird.

I tossed the Poke ball at it and was pleased when it was instantly captured. At least that wasn't too much of a hassle like the rest of today. Things might be looking up.

It took a shorter time getting back down the mountain than it did getting up, so I made it back to Tapu Village in good time. Those construction workers were still near the edge of town.

I stopped and questioned them about the job they were planning to do.

Hm. They were planning to build a Pokemon League up at the top of the mountain.

I couldn't help but be annoyed as fuck about that.

Not that I had anything against Alola having a League, but more that nobody even thought to inform me about it. As much as I loathed having to be a kahuna, it was what it was. If you wanted to do something big on the island, you needed to run it by the island king first.

The fools who built the mart on sacred land would know that if they talked to me first.

But even that wasn't so bad, it was the man behind it that made me grit my teeth. That young professor over on Melemele was the one that didn't even bother to run it by me.

Kukui and I had never really gotten along, our personalities were too different, maybe. It was a godsend that the professor wasn't on my island. Well, besides the few trips he takes to Malie Garden every now and then. I remember him saying when I first met him that he was a fan of the eastern regions, Kanto in particular.

One of my favorite reasons to visit the Malie Gargen was to bask in the nostalgic scenery, having spent most of my childhood in Johto myself, and it didn't really help my mood that day when Kukui bounded over to pop my little bubble of solitude, acting like he was a gift from Arceus himself, so _of course_ I wouldn't mind him bothering me.

It was a shame that Hala never thought to warn him about me.

I admit, one of the main reasons Kukui doesn't particulary like me was because of my cold brush off at our first really conversation.

Oh well. That's one more thing to do while I'm on Melemele. Might as well track the shirt hating professor down and have a little... _chat._

After dropping off the Crabominable and letting the local cops know where I was heading next (not forgetting to give back the borrowed gear), I went back to my car and drove home. If I was leaving the island, I needed to feed the Pokemon at home so they had lunch before I headed out.

I let out my three party Pokemon and called Sushi High Roller to see if they would start my order. It'd be nice if I can just eat once I get there and be on my way all the quicker.

I collapsed onto my Meowth free couch and just layed there for a moment. Now that I had stopped moving, my body was aching and sore from the trek up the mountain. My shoulders were especially loud in their complaining. Probably from the battle with Crabominable.

Maybe I should take Acerola up on her offer to recommend me to the Malie chiropractor and massage parlor.

Eh.

I'll live.

I sat up and pulled my glass ashtray across my coffee table so that it was closer and pulled out my pack again. Seeing that I still had a bit of time before my food was ready, I decided to have one more cigarette for now, my long time solution to relieving stress.

Well, a solution that took the least effort, anyway.

I knew it would only bring me to an earlier death, but when I started as a young man, I had already accepted that I would die fighting before my lungs killed me.

The universe loved to use me as the punch line to it's jokes. It was too late to do anything about that now, though, thirty years later.

I had long ago given up on giving up smoking.

 **000**

Nanu:

After driving back down to Malie, I parked left my cruiser in the police station's parking lot, had my lunch and headed east towards the ferry terminal. I frowned a bit when I saw that there was hardly any people crowding the pier.

Usually that means...

My eyes darted over to the sign listing the times of departure and I let out a low groan. The ferry had already left ten minutes ago, and wouldn't be back for a few hours.

Shit.

I sighed and was about to give up my grudge of the Pager before I heard the familiar melodies of an ukulele coming from the docks. Curious, I wandered towards the sound and blinked when I saw a decent sized boat with an older man playing for a group of what looked like tourists on board.

It took a moment before I realized what I was looking at, and I immediately headed towards them.

I remember Acerola talking to me about a nice man who offered to give tourists rides to the islands for a fee. She was going on about how nice it was on her last visit to the station.

I had to raise my voice a bit to be heard over the tune. "Hey, got room for another?"

The man continued to play as he looked towards who addressed him, but stopped abruptly when he saw it was me. "Kahuna Nanu! What do I owe this pleasure, sir!" He called out in an excited tone. His passengers whipped their heads around towards me and started to point and whisper with equal enthusiasm.

"I need a ride to Melemele. I'll pay whatever." I said while coming on board.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, no problem kahuna! It's just a small fee of fifteen thousand for a trip to Melemele. Y'hear that folks?" He then shouted for all the passengers to hear, "We got our very own Ula'ula kahuna here with us! Now if a wild Gyarados tries to bother us, we have an island king _and_ an international legend here to protect us!"

His declaration was met with cheers and clapping.

I swear to god, once I find out whose been spreading tales about my _private_ past around, I was going to shoot them in the foot. Or just break their nose.

Only twenty minutes later, we were setting sail. I stood as close to the front of the boat as I could, as if that would make it go faster. The people on board were thrilled to have me. They stammered and brought their children close to see the Ula'ula kahuna. There was also a crowd of fishermen sailing with us to Melemele as well, bringing the smell of fish with them.

So here I was, on a pretty boat owned by a sailor who liked to ferry people around the islands for a price. The fee wasn't too bad. The smell of fish didn't even bother me too much. I've gotten used to worse odors.

Ten days sharing a cell with a dead Dodrio comes to mind. It stopped being fun after day two.

The sun was bright and the air was sharp with salt. The wind was with us and we were cutting through water. We would reach Melemele in about half an hour, with no delay.

 **000**

Nanu:

I stood on the pier taking deep breaths. There was always something about this island that made the air smell different than Ula'ula.

Not as fresh, maybe.

I walked across the pier past the Marina and made my way towards the first people I saw to ask if they'd seen any Skull gang members around recently.

"Yeah, there were two Skull grunts here earlier," One young woman said, pointing behind me to the middle of the pier. "They were harassing Captain Ilima and another trainer, but they beat them pretty quickly. The two thugs ran off into town after they lost."

"Hn, that so? Did you see one of those punks use a Spinda by chance?" I asked, scratching at my jaw.

She shook her head. "No, I didn't see them use any Spinda. Just a Zubat and Drowzee."

Damn. It. Hopefully it wasn't already sold off. "Alright. You know where I can find the captain?"

"Oh, sure. If he's not up at his trial site, he's most likely at the Pokemon school."

I thanked her and moseyed on into the Hau'oli shopping district, giving a lazy wave to a nearby officer. I questioned every person around the area about the incident earlier, some saw it, some had heard about it, and a few had no idea. One group said something about hearing about Skull gang skulking about the trial site and the whole route further north.

Over an hour passed by the time I had all the statements from folk around the pier and deemed it a good place to stop for now. Might as well get a statement from one of the trainers who was apart of the battle, starting with the young captain.

I perused the town map by the Hau'oli station and saw that the school was on the other side of town. Hm, might as well call and make sure the kid was there first before making the trip.

I pulled my phone out and looked up their office number.

I walked over to a nearby bench and slumped down onto it while I waited for someone to pick up. My gaze drifted over to some wild Pichu playing in the grass near the station.

"Hello?"

My eyes drifted to stare at my toes as I heard a young man answer. "Yeah, this is Officer Nanu calling. I was hoping to speak with Captain Ilima?"

There was a pause. "Oh, I'm sorry sir, I'm afraid he's already gone home for the day. His mansion is just around the corner of the shopping district's Poke Center though!"

"Hn, alright. Thanks, sir." I hung up and got up from the bench. If the kid wasn't home, I'd have to go find the other trainer that was with him for a clue of where Skull went. If that didn't pan out, I'd just investigate around Route

It took me a while to get there, since Hau'oli was a bigger city, and by the time it took me to navigate my way there through all the other people, I was itching for another smoke.

No, you wretch. You can wait.

I made it to the mansion in good time, considering it wasn't too far from where I was to begin with. I brought a fist up and rapped my knuckles on the door. I waited for a few moments before a Machamp answered the door.

"Champ?"

"I'm looking for Captain Ilima. Got some questions for him about an incident earlier. He home?" I asked, not blinking at the heavily muscled Pokemon, who was apparently also a butler here, guessing from the black bow tie around it's neck.

The fighting type shook it's head in the negative. Of course he isn't. "You know where I can find him?"

"Maa-champ!" It exclaimed and practically manhandled me off of the fancy porch so it could get out the door. I tried not to glower at the Machamp and instead peered where it was gesturing and pointing towards.

Ah. "So he's up at the trial site, huh?" I muttered, and nodded my thanks to the Machamp before walking back into town.

 **000**

Nanu:

Avoiding wild Pokemon on Route 2 was easy.

I talked to a few people at the beginning of the route, and learned that not only did the two thugs come through here, but so did Ilima and who I hope was the other teenager that battle Skull. All I had to go on for a description was that she was older than the average kid that starts training, had long blonde hair, and a Popplio.

That sure narrows it down.

After I was satisfied with the information I gathered, I made sure to express that I wanted nothing to do with anyone without actually expressing anything as I made my way along the path, trainers both young and old avoiding me, whether it be my appearance or my aura of 'Fuck Off'.

Either way, I was fine with it.

It was getting late in the day, and _could_ waste more time going home for the day, or I could just stay the night in the motel up the road and continue this bright and early in the morning.

I let out an explosive sigh and pulled out my phone. I dialed Acerola and hoped there was a cafeteria at the motel, I wasn't particularly hungry, I had plenty of sushi at lunch, but I wanted to give my party something better to eat then vending machine junk for their dinner later.

"Good evening, Uncle Nanu!" Acerola chirped once she picked up.

"Hey, kid. I have a favor to ask you."

I heard her huff in her mic. "Oh, of _course_ you do. I should of known you weren't just calling to say hi." She teased.

I rolled my eyes and rubbed at the back of my neck. "Yeah, yeah. I just saw you _yesterday._ I just need you to go to the station and feed the Pokemon, I won't be home tonight."

"Oh? Where are you?" Acerola asked curiously.

"I'm investigating a missing Pokemon case right now, I'm going to stay the night here in Melemele so I can pick up the trail in the morning."

The ghost type trainer giggled hearing that. "Oh, Uncle, you're such a softy! You just want everyone to think you're a tough old Bewear but you're really a sweet Stuffel!"

I let out a short chuckle at that. "Yeah, sure. That's me alright." I replied, sarcasm lacing my voice.

Acerola ignored it. "That's right! I'll take care of your Pokemon, don't you worry! Is the spare key in the same spot?"

"Yeah."

"Alrighty! Alola, Uncle Nanu! Good luck catching the bad guys!" She said in her usual joyful tone before hanging up.

I put my phone to sleep and slipped in back into my pocket and couldn't help but be relieved when the motel came into view. I was ready to collapse onto a flat surface and pass the hell out. I had missed all of my cat naps today, damn it.

I walked off of the dirt path and onto the concrete of the motel's parking lot, and headed towards what looked like the office. It was a small place, hopefully there would be a room left.

I placed one foot on the first step before a flash of blonde caught my eye. I turned to look, slightly curious, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight.

It was a young woman, bending down to her hands and knees on the dirty concrete to peer under a vehicle. She seemed to be trying to get something from under it, and the top half of her body was slowly crawling under the car.

What was she doing?

My legs took me over to her before I even thought about it, a thought that might of bothered me if I hadn't been so interested. As I got closer I could hear her...meowing?

I came to a stop just a step or two away from where she was, and tilted my head curiously when her meows turned into a _very_ realistic purring. It was coming from deep in her throat, and if I were farther away, I might not have heard it. I felt the corners of my lips turn up a bit when she inched her way out from under the car, only her shoulders hidden, and heard a very familiar purr that wasn't the girl.

I heard that purr every day.

"Huh, and here I thought you were just pretending to be a cat, girl." I said in a low voice, trying not to startle her.

It didn't work. She jumped and I heard a metallic clang come from under the car, and I couldn't help but wince. Oops.

I blinked when the Meowth she was trying to coax out dashed out of the shadows and past us, going until it disappeared into the foliage across the parking lot.

...Oops.

"Wait!" The girl cried out in vain, rolling out from under the car, holding the back of her head in one hand. She continued to lay there on her side, staring out where the Meowth fled and finally turned to look up at me.

 **000**

Nanu:

Eyes bluer than the sea. Long hair like spun gold. Skin the same tone as the very sand of these beaches.

This girl was like Alola incarnate.

Wait, Kantonese eyes. She looked half Kantonese, really, and half something else.

What did I see in her blue, Kantonese eyes?

I saw youth. She's young, and her fire burns bright and pure. Too young? No, she was older than most new trainers. And what even _was_ too young in a world like this? I was a trained agent at her age. I've trained younger recruits. I've lost younger recruits.

I saw laughter and music in her eyes. I saw flowers and smiles. I saw hugs and kisses. I saw hopes and dreams.

But I also saw tears, and a deep well of sorrow inside. She hurts for something in this world. She cries alone, her little heart full of joy and pain. What will this journey bring her?

I also saw a purpose, not so terrible as mine once was, nor so single-minded, but nonetheless strong and sure. She clings to life, not death.

I saw no meanness in her Kantonese eyes, no cruelty, no spite, and no unkindness.

I couldn't help but have a heavy feeling that everything had changed.

 **000**

 **This took forever. Next chapter won't take as long to post and it'll be both POV.**

 **Kantonian and Kantonese are basically the same thing, I put them both in here knowingly.**

 **Now I'm off to watch the new ep of Sun and Moon anime, or AKA EPISODE NANU (and Rocket Gang I guess). Can I get BOTH of my favorite Pokemon characters in the same ep?! Give me some Giovanni as well pleaseeeeee.**

 **I have a fanart of Sunne up on my Deviantart, name's psychodoll-behindyou, and I'm currently painting Nanu.**

 **Hope you like. I'll probably be evolving my writing of Nanu throughout this whole thing, it felt kinda tough. Once I got a balance for him it'll be better!**

 **I have no beta, sorry for any mistakes.**

 **xoxoxo**


	5. Partners in Law

**If there's any mistakes, it's because I have no one to proof read other than myself and with how much I've been working on stories lately there's a good chance I missed stuff.**

 **I hope you like it anyway!**

 **000**

Sunne:

I looked up at the man in red and black, before quickly averting my gaze to the ground, scrambling to stand up,and busied myself with dusting off the dirt and loose gravel from my shorts.

I stole a look from under my lashes at the intimidating man, and saw that he was wearing a police shirt. Huh, mister tall, dark, and handsome must be a cop.

Well, I guess he couldn't be _that_ bad then. He wasn't really that tall, or that big, either. He looked like all the energy had been sucked out of him, too. I glanced down at his hip, where a few ultra balls rested.

So, he's got to be a strong trainer-people with ultra balls usually are-but I'm sure Alola's full of strong trainers. He didn't seem like anything special, even if he had a police uniform on. There wasn't any reason to be scared, especially if he was law enforcement. I felt most of my uneasiness drain away.

"Hey, girl. Cat got your tongue?" he asked, face still as stone.

Okay, his voice seemed kind of special. Low and smooth, yet gritty like gravel. How the heck do you have a smooth _and_ rough voice?

"Uh," Was my intelligent response, about as intelligent as purring at a stranger's Meowth under another stranger's truck.

I kept my eyes averted, remembering how he came upon me. I felt my cheeks flush a bit. God, how embarrassing!

"Girl, look at me." he said, tone still emotionless.

"Oh..."

I brought my eyes back up to meet his gaze again. His head was tilted a bit, looking a bit like a curious Meowth. No, this man wasn't a cute cat, he was more like a Purloin or Pyroar eyeing it's prey. Curious, but well aware that it was higher on the food chain.

He gave me a slow blink, and I swear I saw the corner of his lip twitch. "What's wrong, girl? You aren't mute, are you? Could of sworn you said something earlier." said the man with intimidating eyes and a voice you could use to sell a Houndoom to a nun.

I cleared my throat and tried to get it together. Why was I so unsettled by this old guy? I'm cute and adorkable, I twist old guys around my pinky finger. No problem.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Sunne.

I raised my chin and looked him dead in the eye, and tried to tell myself to get a grip. Wrap him around the finger! "Sorry about that, sir! You caught me by surprise." I said sheepishly, giving him a small smile. His face didn't change, and his garnet eyes stayed locked onto mine.

Something glittered in his eyes as we kept staring, and I suddenly realized why I was so unnerved.

It was like standing at the edge of a really high cliff.

Have you ever done that? You're standing there and you know that if you step off, you're done. One step, and you'll fall to your death. Your life is at an end. Over and finished, and the cliff isn't even shouting at you, or being cruel, or trying to frighten you or anything. It's just there. And you know it can kill you.

Looking this old cop in the eye was like looking over the edge of a tall, tall cliff. It wasn't anything he did, or said. The man was just dangerous.

After another beat of silence, I finally gave in. "Uh, cuz, well you know...I was busy, um-"

"Purring at a Meowth." He finished for me, face still in a blank, tired expression.

"Um, yeah, well, it's not my Meowth, it's another trainers Pokemon, so it doesn't know me and I thought that would be the best way to get it to come out..." I trailed off when I saw him raise an eyebrow at my explanation. I glanced at his police shirt. Oh great, now he probably thinks I'm a thief!

"Not because I'm stealing it or anything!" I rushed to say, hoping he'll believe me. "There's a really... _distraught_...man that I met in the motel lobby that lost the cutie and I offered to find it for him!"

He brought up a hand to rub at his jaw. "You don't say," he mumbled, still staring at me.

Um, dude, what's with the staring? "Yup! Until you came along and spooked us." I said with a pout, trying not to show my nervousness about sassing him. I didn't really mean to, it was just my natural charm!

To my relief, I didn't fall off the cliff, but he did give me another slow blink. "So you're just doing a public service, huh?"

"I guess so..." I said feeling a rush of relief. I didn't notice until now, but it was really getting dark...the sun was almost completely down, it's orange and yellow hues slowly darkening to purples and blues. "It was nice meeting you officer, but I really need to go, it's getting dark, and I can't rest until I find that Meowth. I don't want it to stay out alone all night..."

"It should be fine for the night," he said, _finally_ taking his eyes off mine to eye the setting sun. "Meowth love the night, tame or not."

I frowned at that. "Well yeah, but, the trainer's what I'm worried about, really. They guy was really, _really_ worried about his Meowth, I don't know how he'll do without it tonight, you see." I said, running a hand through my hair and winced when I hit the bump from earlier. Oh, right. I hit my head on the truck when he spooked me.

I focused back on the man and saw that he was looking at me again, this time with his eyebrows furrowed slightly. Yup, he definitely noticed.

"Well, it was nice meeting you!" I said, and walked around him to head in the direction of where I saw the cat run.

I barely made it five steps before I heard a deep sigh from behind me and then footsteps. I turned my head and blinked in confusion when I saw the man following me, looking like he was on his way to fight a war after getting no sleep for a week.

Seeing my look, he said, "It's dark, and the Skull gang has been sighted around here. I'm coming with you to help so we find it faster and can get some shut eye." He said, catching up to me and walking beside me.

Huh, I didn't really expect him to do that. I couldn't help but smile up at him. He wasn't so bad after all.

I wondered whether or not I should let out Purry to help look as we looked through bushes on the other side of the parking lot, but the thought left when I hear a hiss.

My eyes snapped to the base of a tree, where two reflecting eyes peered out at me from a hole beneath it. I smiled triumphantly.

I immediately kneeled down near it and started purring at it again. "C'mon, little Meowth...it's okay..."

I forgot about the man who had accompanied me, and took a sharp breath when he spoke from above me once again. "You're pretty good at that, huh?"

I sneaked a look at him from under my lashes again and saw that he was looking at the Meowth that was slowly crawling out from it's hiding spot. He was doing his strange slow blinks, and I was shocked when the Meowth gave a happy, cry before running towards us.

I held my arms out invitingly with a smile only to be used as a catapult as it jumped onto my head to spring into the arms of the officer behind me.

I rubbed my sore head and glared disbelievingly at the sight of the once suspicious Meowth as it rubbed its head against the man's chin happily, while he looked on with his same bland expression.

Okay, what?

He brought his eyes up from the Pokemon in his arms and saw my expression. "Good job, girl. Let's go take this guy to his trainer and call it a night."

Without further ado, he turned around and started walking back towards the motel, leaving me there kneeling in the dirt, staring at his back dumbfounded.

What just happened?

 **000**

I rushed to catch up to him just in time to see the gentleman from before catch sight of us. I waved at him as the man put the Meowth down.

"Oh, thank goodness! My precious Meowth! You weren't hurt!" He cried, rushing towards us.

I saw the man rub the back of his neck as the Meowth yowled at being picked up and promptly smothered as it's trainer 'hugged' it.

I shuffled towards the officer and whispered, "Um, isn't that like, Pokemon abuse or something?"

He slid his ruby eyes towards me, still rubbing his neck. "Technically no...but I see why you'd ask," He muttered, looking back at the man. "no wonder the thing ran away..."

We watched on in sympathy, and I felt guilty for bringing it back to it's owner.

The old man gave me a paralyze heal in gratitude for finding his Pokemon, before walking off with his now unhappy cat.

Once they were out of view, I looked over to the officer next to me to see that he was already looking at me.

I gave him another smile, something that he just blinked at. "Thanks for the help, officer."

He shrugged. "No big deal, girl. Just didn't feel right leaving a little girl out here alone at night."

I raised an eyebrow, trying not to feel too offended at being called a little girl. "Still, thanks! Even though those Skull gang members aren't too tough, I still didn't want to tangle with them anymore today."

He tilted his head a bit at that. "Oh? You run into them before?"

I nodded. "Yeah, earlier today. Another trainer and I battled a couple at the Mariner."

"You don't say...that other trainer happen to be Trial Captain Illima?"

I raised both eyebrows at that. "Yeah, it was! You know him?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "I was looking for him today to ask him about those Skull grunts, but looks like I found the other trainer sooner." He said, his mouth twitching at the ends, like his face was trying to smile, but it was just stuck that way from looking deadpan all the time.

"Oh..." I wasn't sure was to say to that. Was I being interrogated...?

"But that can wait till tomorrow. I'm dead tired." He sighed, and headed towards the motel.

I followed him after a moment, realizing that I had to go that direction too. Now that he mentioned it, I could kill for a hot shower and good night's sleep...

He glanced at me when I caught up to him. "I have a room here for the night." I explained.

He gave a tiny nod and walked up the stairs towards the lobby while I headed towards my room. "It was nice meeting you!" I called over my shoulder, catching his eye again when he grabbed hold of the doorknob.

I barely managed to get my room key into the lock before the man said, "Our meeting isn't over just yet, girl."

Eh?

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking back at the officer once more, feeling a sudden fatigue settle within me. I was starting to feel drowsy, the long day was starting to make itself known.

It was slightly startling to see his eyes in the darkness, peering at me with the same intent as before. They practically _glowed._ The uneasiness was back in a heartbeat. "I still have questions about the punks I'm looking for, girl. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

The _Whether you like it or not_ was silent, yet heard loud and clear by the authority in his tone.

Before I even had a chance to answer, or say, I Have a Name You Creepy Old Cop, he opened the lobby door and went in, leaving me there alone, gaping after him in the moonlight.

 **000**

I felt my very soul grumble in annoyance when I was woken up the next morning by loud banging.

I pried open an eye to glare at my motel door. I heard my pokemon growl and whine similar sentiments from my chest and by my feet. I turned my gaze to the digital clock on the bedside table and glared even harder when I saw the time.

That old cop wasn't kidding when he said he would be by bright and early, but I didn't think it would be 5 freaking 30!

The knocking continued, this time with less knocks, but more emphasized. Purry let out a disgruntled meow at the disturbance that continued to deprive her of her beauty sleep, and leaped off my chest with another growl.

"I know, pretty girl. I like sleep, too." I tried to placate, but she flat out ignored me and walked off to get a drink from the food bowls inside the bathroom. Zella slid off the bed as well, but not before giving me a tired goodmorning coo. I closed my eyes and called out, "I'll be right there."

I groaned and dragged myself out of bed with resignation, reaching into my bag to pull out a hoodie. I didn't care to change out of my pajamas, but remembering how intense his gaze was last night, I decided to throw something thick over my thin camisole.

No way was I flashing my boobs to some guy I barely knew.

"ZZzzt, Good morning, Sunne!" Rotom chirped from where he was resting...or, charging, on the table across the small room. "That must be that officer from last night, here to ask us about those Skull thugs."

"Probably." I agreed, slightly muffled as I tried to get my black safari zone hoodie over my head.

The persistant knocking came again, this time accompanied by, "Open up, girl. I don't have all day."

I flipped out my hair from under my hoodie so that it fell in waves around my head with a huff.

Alright, already! I shuffled over to the door and opened it, trying to put on a polite smile that hopefully didn't look too forced. "Hello again, officer! Come on in," I tried to greet enthusiastically and swept to the side to give him room to enter.

He looked the same as yesterday, face looking tired and blank, and stood with a slight hunch. Now that I saw him in a brighter light, he was wearing sandals with his...casual uniform. Was that an islander thing?

He gave a small nod and swept past me into my room, heading towards my table. Only then did I notice the drink carrier and paper bag that he carried with him.

"What's all that?" I asked curiously as I shut the door.

He picked up a cup and held it out to me without looking up from his task. "It's a sort of apology for doing this so early. I got you coffee and breakfast." His voice was the same as last night, low and smooth, with an underline of grit.

I stared at him and the offered cup for a moment in surprise. Then I smiled a more genuine smile.

He really _is_ a lot nicer than he seems...

He glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow when I still didn't take the cup. I hurriedly went to take it, my fingers brushing his rougher ones. "Thank you, sir. That was kind of you."

He shrugged, and pulled out the only chair at the table and practically collapsed into it, handing me the bag of food as well. I hopped onto my bed and sat on the edge, placing my coffee between my thighs so that I could use both hands to pick out the food he got me.

"It's not much," I heard him say as I lifted a breakfast burrito and a container of hashbrowns out of the bag.

Not much? This was plenty for me, and so delicious looking! "It looks great, thank you!" Then I remembered that I _still_ didn't know this guy's name. "Oh, my name is Sunne, by the way. I should have said that last night." I said, giggling embarrassingly as I unwrapped my burrito.

He muttered something too low for me to hear before saying, "Name's Nanu. Mind spelling that for me?" It took me a second to realize that he meant my name, and I hurriedly did so. "Thanks. Where did you first encounter Skull gang?"

I paused, just about to take a bite of my burrito. We're just jumping into it, huh? "Yesterday by the marina. I was there with Captain Ilima at the time."

"So you two battled them?" he asked, writing something down in his notepad.

"And won! Zzt!" A new voice chirped and Officer Nanu looked up quickly in surprise; or what i'm guessing is surprise, his expression was the same, but the speed in which his head moved was my only clue.

Rotom made itself known and floated over to hover in front of the man. I busied myself with eating as fast as I could while he was distracted. Damn, this was good!

"Hm," The man hummed as he eyed the possessed pokedex. "Must be one of them new pokedex's I've heard about."

"Zzztt, sure am! Nice to meet ya! To answer your question, we were over there and those guys were trying to steal Sunne's Pokemon, but her and that Captain blew them away!" It said, floating around me now. I caught the man looking at me and shrugged, swallowing my mouthfull of food.

"I haven't seen them since then, but they said that they were going to try to steal a special Pokemon up at the trial site before they ran off..."

Officer Nanu wrote something else down. "They did, did they? What a hassle..." he muttered, his voice still low and neutral. I couldn't help but wonder if he would blow his voice out if he shouted. "They say anything about a Spinda, girl?"

My eye twitched a bit at being called girl still, before thinking back to the encounter. I sighed and shook my head. "No, they didn't say anything about Spinda, just future theft at the trail site."

He let out a long sigh and crossed something out on this notepad. "Damn..." he said, and took a long drink of his coffee.

I copied his action, eyeing him curiously. "Were they planning to take someone's Spinda, sir...?"

"Already did take it," He said, setting his cup down and running a hand over his face. "Been tracking them since yesterday and followed the trail here. I heard from another...source, that they planned to sell the Spinda off. It's a famous Spinda on Ula'ula, performs in a dance group."

My eyes widened at that. Oh, that poor Spinda, taken from it's friends and family..."So the two guys I fought brought it here?"

He nodded and picked up his drink again to finish it off. I eyed my last bite of burrito as if it had all the answers. They didn't fight with a Spinda yesterday, hopefully they were just keeping it safe and out of sight and didn't already sell it...

Before I could ponder on it anymore, a cream and brown colored blur flew across my vision and stole the last of my burrito right out my hands.

"Damn it, Purry..." I sighed in dismay when I saw my Meowth chewing her stolen snack by my feet.

I was of course ignored, and glanced back up at the man and gave him a 'what can you do?' smile. His garnet eyes shifted from my cat and back to me. "Kantonian, huh? Don't see those around here, often." _Or at all._ Went unsaid, but I could practically hear it anyway.

"Yeah," I agreed. "My Meowth and I are from Kanto, just moved here recently."

He hummed at that, looking like he just had confirmation for something, before his gaze drifted away from me and down towards the now curious cat that wandered over to him. I couldn't help but tense.

Purry had never really gotten along with any males she didn't know. Or, well, any males at all. The only one she ever took a shine to since she was just newly hatched had been-

I swallowed roughly and brought that train of thought to an abrupt halt. No. Fuck that. I'm not wasting any brain cells thinking of the the man that tore a hole in my family.

"Meow!"

I shook my head slightly as if to shake the depressing thoughts right out of my head, and turned to see what made my Pokemon cry out. My jaw dropped.

"Well, you're an affectionate girl, aren't you?" The older man commented, like it was an everyday occurence that a Pokemon that had just met him 5 seconds ago had thrown themselves at him. I stared in disbelief as Purry smiled and purred in the arms of a stranger, a _male stranger,_ and rubbed her face up against his, trying to give kisses. The man just turned his head with practised patience, looking at the Meowth with the same bland look he's had 95% of the time I've known him.

I jumped up and walked over to them, still in shock. The man's eyes snapped towards me at the motion, a hand coming up to gently push Purry's head away from his own. "Purry, what the hell's gotten into you?" I asked, amusement starting to creep through my shock.

Suddenly remembering just how easily that lost Meowth from last night had jumped into the cop's arms as well, I slowly leaned towards the man and suspiciously sniffed his shoulder.

Instant mistake.

I went in thinking I was going to smell cigarettes, old man, and the tell tale scent of catnip or even the sweet scent of Pokemon lure from his shirt pocket. What I _got_ was...

A whiff of bittersweetness and my original guess of tobacco was there, but so was a scent that I couldn't identify. Whatever it was, smelled _amazing._ Maybe my suspicions were right and it was a scent that drew Pokemon to him?

I could stand here and smell him all day...Which was creepy. In fact, leaning over and sniffing his shoulder was weird, too. He probably thought I was a freak!

I pulled back as quickly as I could without being obvious and met his incredulous eyes. It was kind of interesting to see. One of his dark brows was raised, and he looked like he was cycling through a couple of comments in his head, but settled on, "The hell you doing, girl?"

Well, he didn't sound mad or anything. I raised an eyebrow back at him and gave him a innocent smile. "Oh, just seeing if rolling around in catnip is how you start your day." I said, leaning down again to pet Purry. "Seeming as how Meowth just seem to love you, and all."

He scoffed, still looking at me with a peculiar look in his dark red eyes. "Felines, particularly Meowth, tend to like me. Always have." The man gave a small shrug, like saying, _'Eh, what can you do?'_

"Hm," I hummed, giving him the side eye. Our faces were about even with each other since I was still bowed over a bit. "How many of your Pokemon are cats?" I couldn't help but ask, smiling teasingly. I'm not going to let the staring get to me, I know he's a nice guy. I've seen proof...

He gave a long suffering sigh and proceeded to dump Purry into my arms. I scrambled to quickly hold the disgruntled Meowth and blinked when he stood up, not bothering to step away from me, like a normal person would do.

Uh, was he always this tall...? My head barely reached the top of his chin!

I blinked up at the older cop and met his bored gaze. "Believe it or not, just one."

I let out a quiet, "Oh." I let Purry jump out of my arms and cleared my suddenly dry throat. Seriously, _what kind of cologne does he use?_ "So, uh, what are you going to do now?"

"Reckon I better head towards the trial site, go find the two idiots." He moved around me, carrying his trash and empty cup with him to toss in the bin. "I'm hoping they didn't sell the Spinda or any other stolen Pokemon. Going to need to find out who the buyer is too," Then, under his breath, "what a bother..."

I clicked my tongue in thought, shooting him glances as he paused to pat a cooing Zella who had just hopped over to meet him. I didn't know why, but this man confused the hell out of me. No matter how much my mind rationalized that he was a safe person to be around (which, duh, police officer!), goosebumps were threatening to raise on my arms, and I got a tingle down my spine when he got too close or stared for too long.

I didn't feel in danger, per say, but my insticts were trying to tell me _something,_ and not knowing was driving me crazy! It must be the whole cliff thing.

Just as he turned back towards me, I made up my mind. I was a curious girl, even when it probably wasn't good for me. "Well, I'm heading the same direction for my island pilgrimage, so I'll come with you!"

He gave me a slow blink. "What."

I nodded, giving him a bright smile. "Yeah! We might as well go together. You know, safer."

"You don't need to worry about these punks, girl." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You already beat them before, and I doubt they'd beat you in a two on one fight, either."

My cheeks felt a bit warm at the compliment, but I shook my head. "You never know, right? And what about you?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

He pointed at himself, as if saying, _'who, me?'_

I nodded. ' _Yeah, you.'_ "You said you don't really know how many grunts are here, right?" I said, using the term that was often used back in Kanto about the Rockets. "What if they jump _you?_ It'd be safer if we went together, y'know?"

He fiddled his necklace, staring at me in thought, looking like he wasn't keen to the idea. I just gave him what I've dubbed my Mona Lisa smile, a smile that usually charmed myself out of sticky situations or made my mother rub her temples.

"I usually work best when I'm alone." He said, like it was obvious.

I gave him a shrug. "Well, good thing I'm just tagging along to keep you company. An extra set of eyes against the weak Skull thugs, eh?" I said, like _that_ was obvious.

We had a bit of a stand off then, eyes locked in a silent debate. After about a minute, he finally let out another long sigh, looking tired and resigned already. "Fine. Come with me if you want. I planned on leaving now, though."

I nodded and rushed towards my bag. "No problem! I'll just jump in the shower real quick and I'll be ready."

"Uh huh. So in woman-speak that means an hour." He said dryly, eyes tracking me.

I scoffed at that. "Nope. I'll be ready in fifteen, tops."

 **000**

I kept true to my word and met Officer Nanu outside my motel room after throwing on a tank top and jean shorts. I'd gathered up my stuff, not sure what the day was going to have in store for me, I didn't really want to pay for another night in the room if I was going to be closer to home by the end of the day.

The cop insisted that we go back into town before heading further up Route 2, saying that he was going to need more caffiene before doing much else. I didn't fight him on it, he honestly looked like he ran on nothing _but_ coffee.

Another thing I noticed about the older man, was that he was _much_ more effective than any repel could be. Trainers and citizens alike avoided us like the plague after taking one look at the guy. Not that he did anything to warrant such behavior, he just was putting off quite the aura that said you'd have better sense not to bother him.

It didn't take us long to get back to where the motel was and I couldn't help but look around at the new sights once we passed it. There was a small house with a picket fence not too far past the motel, and a little boy waiting just past the property, ready to battle.

He pointed at me once he saw us, quickly deciding he'd have better luck fighting me then the older man next to me. I didn't really blame the kid, the guy was intimidating as hell. He shouted something about preschool pistons, and I had just enough time to think, _what?_ Before he tossed out a pokeball.

A Spearow materialized in the air, flying in slow circles above our heads. I went ahead and sent out my Popplio, the cute girl clapping her flippers in excitement. Maybe I should have her just walk around with the old clam and I? Try to counteract the gloom and doom with our combined joy?

The battle didn't take too long. Our opponents were both young and inexperienced, so it didn't take much to dodge a poorly aimed peck and knock it out of the sky with a _well_ aimed Water Jet. The man behind me looked thankful, ready to get on with his mission, but I was dissappointed.

I wanted to battle tougher trainers! I had no real clue if I was ready for Illima's trial or not. I _felt_ confident, but all I've fought recently were wild Pokemon and kids younger than me or casual trainers.

The kid gave me a couple pokedollars for winning, and I returned Zella before hurrying after the man who was already leaving without me.

We barely got a couple feet from my impromptu battle field before a mass of red and white jumped out at me from some nearby bushes. It grabbed hold of my bag and I couldn't help but let out a startled squeak as it tugged me to my knees from the force.

Officer Nanu whirled around at the noise and quickly closed the distance when he saw what happened. I looked at the bird type Pokemon and realized it was a Delibird. That was a strange species to be here in the tropics...

Rotom dug itself out of my bag to see what the commotion was about and instantly snapped a photo of Delibird as soon as it noticed it.

Damn it, Rotom, now's not the time for-

It let out a distressed trill pulled on my bag again, causing me to jerk forward a bit. I was quickly righted by a large hand on my shoulder, the skin on skin contact making tingles shoot down my arm and across my back. I glanced up and saw the man staring down at the bearded bird with quirked brow.

"Let go." He said, sounding bored, but his eyes were attentively locked on the little bird.

It let out another cry and tried to pull me up the path. I winced at the strap biting into the talon marks on my back and tried to calm the Delibird down. "Hey, it's o-okay. Why do you want me to go up the path?" I asked, hoping it could relay to us what it wanted. I glanced at the officer and saw that he had an ultraball gripped in the hand that wasn't holding me in place.

I didn't think this little guy wanted to hurt me, and I really didn't want _it_ to get hurt by whatever Nanu would sick on it. "Okay, okay! I'll follow you up the path, little guy. Just please stop pulling my bag, alright?"

It paused, and eyed me, as if making sure I was being sincere. I smiled at the poor thing and tried to ignore the powerful presence behind me.

After a few moments of thinking it over, it finally let my bag strap slip through it's feathers and walked a few steps up the path, trusting that we would follow. I let out a sigh of relief and tried not to wince as I readjusted my bag. My poor scratches were probably going to be sore for the rest of the day, dammit.

The old cop helped me to my feet and swept his eyes over my shoulder and back. "You alright, girl?" He asked, as if he couldn't care less, but his eyes betrayed him. I tried not to grin.

"Yeah, I'm good! Just have some scratches that haven't quite healed up yet. My strap rubbed them a bit raw, is all." I hurried up the path after the Delibird before he could reply, reaching out to take the stressed Pokemon's hand.

I heard a sigh before the man started after us.

The Delibird lead us to what looked like a farm surrounded by fields. "Melemele Berry Fields...?" I heard Nanu mutter, and turned to see the sign he was reading.

"Maybe the local Berry Master owns this Delibird...?" I said with a shrug, and headed up the road with the impatient Pokemon in question.

"Or maybe there's trouble up ahead?" Rotom piped up, floating around towards my head. "Zzt! If there's trouble at the berry fields, you gotta go help keep my berry supply in tact!"

I gave my possessed pokedex a deadpan stare. "You know, one of these days, you and I need to have a talk about priorities."

"Well, it looks like the little fella was right this time." Officer Nanu stated from beside me, staring straight ahead. I followed his gaze and my eyes widened in surprise.

"Yo, you got a lame bunch of berries, now Skull Gang's your adversaries!" We heard none other than the grunts we were looking for say from up ahead. "Takin' berries off your hands is just the start of our plans, yo!"

"Let's get figy with it! Watch while I nanab me some berries!" The other one chimed in, horrible puns and all.

The Delibird let out a cry and rushed ahead without us. "Yep, those are the two from yesterday, all right." I muttered dryly, throwing the officer a look. I'd recognize _A_ and _B_ from just the byplay by now.

He let out a huff. "Thank god." He gave me a sharp glance that had made my palms start to sweat. "Girl, I'll take the lead on this, don't rush in, got it?" He placed a hand on my shoulder again, as if to restrain me if I got any funny ideas.

I was about to tell him something about not being one to act before thinking, when I heard- "I'll share my berries for free with any Pokemon, but you're not getting a singe one from me you punks!" the old farmer, who I suspected was the Berry Master _and_ Delibird's trainer said angrily.

The first grunt was suddenly up in the farmer's face, grabbing hold of his vest lapels. "So, what? I'm lower than a Pokemon?! I already got self-esteem issues, man!" the guy hissed, drawing a laugh from his buddy and a glare from his assaultee.

-and promptly forgot what the hell I was going to convince Nanu of. "Hey!" I shouted angrily, smacking the cop's hand off my shoulder. "Pick on someone your own size!"

I stomped my way towards the little prick, well, more like hopped. I unlaced my sandal on the move and chucked it at the punks.

My aim was off, but I still hit the other guy on the head, drawing out a curse of pain from him.

My original target whirled around, looking genuinly pissed off. "The fuck you looking at, huh?! Huh, HUH?!" Suddenly he blinked and actually looked at me. His eyes widened and he jogged towards me till he was a couple steps away. "Yo, hold up, you're-!"

"You gotta bone to pick with us, home girl?" his friend said as he joined his side, a size 7 footprint marring his white skull bandana. "You and Cap may have beat us at the marina, but you won't be so lucky if we get serious, yo!" Then he sneered, eyes roving up and down, staying on my bare thigh and exposed cleavage too long for my liking, "Then, maybe _we'll_ have a bone to pick with _you,_ you feel me?"

I raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the thug B. "Geez, did my shoe give you a concussion?" I sniped, sending A a look that asked if I hit the remaining brain cells out of his friend's head.

He couldn't hold back a snicker and his now dumber buddy shot him a glare.

"I appreciate your concerns, child." The Berry Master said from the tree he was pushed against, his arms full of the crying Delibird. "But these Skull gang punks do nothin' but talk big and act small. Carry on with your island challenge, and don't give them the time of day."

I raised my brows at the straight up shade this guy just threw at them like they weren't even there. Like, damn.

As if hearing my thoughts, grunt A whirled back around, his earlier anger back in spades. "Yo, we're standing right here! At least act a little bit afraid or something, y'know?!"

I backed up a couple steps and hurriedly took off my other sandal, ready to lob it at the other guy too if he got handsy again.

"Yo, you tryin' to run away?" B taunted, stalking up to me. "We're gonna hafta take your Pokemon along with the berries, bitch!"

"That'll be a sight." A voice said from behind me, like _right_ behind me. I could literally feel my hair move from his breath!

I tilted my head straight up, blinking up at the man who was just inches away from me. Was this supposed to intimidate them or...what?

I just stared stupidly at the underside of his jaw as he continued. "I've been trailing you boys since Ula'ula. And I'm not... _happy..._ about coming all the way over here for you." He said, his voice taking a deeper tone, showing his annoyance at the whole ordeal.

A pointed a finger at him, or us, I guess, dramatically, eyes wide. "Yo, you brought a _cop_ with you?!" He cried, while B tried to overcome his own nervousness.

I looked back at them and shook my head. "Nuh uh. You guys have no one else to blame but yourselves for getting _his_ wrath." I practically sang, giving them a feral grin. I could see them shiver in dread from here at the familiar sight.

"That's right." Nanu stated, moving so that he was standing a bit in front of me. "I'll be taking back that Spinda and any other Pokemon you stole."

I watched curiously as the two Skull thugs had interesting reactions to that. They both looked caught off gaurd, and glanced at each other. Then B cleared his throat, and said, "What Spinda, homie?"

Nanu's silence was like a living, breathing, presence.

That was the wrong this to say, and the cop's patience was at it's end. One look at him was enough to tell that. The man had his mouth pressed into a line so thin and hard, it could have cut diamond.

"So, it's like that, huh..." Nanu said softly, grizzly undercurrents of wrath in his voice that caused everyone to lean back, and him grabbing an ultraball from his belt caused the two grunts to dash across the clearing, frantically getting out their own pokeballs.

I heard B stutter out something from across the field, before he and A called out their Pokemon.

The older man threw his out with a lazy toss just as a Zubat and Drowzee formed from across him. I backed up a bit to give him space and watched as a darker coloured Persian appeared. It's head was rounder than a Kantonian Persian's and it's fur was darker like it's previous evolution.

"Zzt, Alolan Persian, evolved form of Alolan Meowth..." Rotom said quietly from my shoulder, like it was afraid of drawing the cop's attention towards itself. "The classy cat Pokemon, female. In contrast to its lovely face, it's so brutal that it tortures its weakened prey rather than finishing them off."

"Huh." I said, watching in amazement as the feline didn't even wait for a command from her trainer and just vanished before reappearing in front of the startled Zubat, landing the Fake Out attack.

Wow, this guy was good. His pokemon seemed to know just where to go and what to do. No wasted motion, no wasted time. Gloomy Goomy was still just standing there and only moving lazily out of the way when some stray debris headed his way. When he called for something from his Persian it was like she expected it, like she was just waiting for the word.

No wonder he didn't seem to be bothered with taking on a gang by himself if this was how he and his team operated. The Persian had the Zubat down in no time, only taking the effects of a Disable attack from the Drowzee, which negated her first attack.

Well, I was here too!

"Hey! Send me in, Nanu! I'll help ya!" I skipped up to stand with him, a respectable distance away with Purry's luxury ball in hand.

He looked at me for a split second before he twitched a shoulder in what I think was a shrug and waved the Persian back. I called forth my own feline to take it's place. Give the man this, he doesn't hesitate.

Now, gotta show this guy what we can do.

I could see the punk across from me shoot a nervous glance at my Meowth, and I gave him a sharp grin. Yeah, he knew not to underestimate us, and knowing that he had an idea of what to expect had me excited.

I heard the grunt tell this Drowzee to put my Meowth to sleep, and I quickly called for Purry to Quick Attack. She successfully dodged the hypnotic rays and landed a clean hit on the Drowzee as well, and I decided to end it with a move that hopefully impressed the man next to me.

Purry crouched over, twitching from the top of her ears to the tip of her tail. And...now! Just when the Drowzee was coming in for Pound attack, fist launched at my cat's head, I called for our infamous Thunderbolt.

Purry sent the psychic type into instant unconsciousness two seconds later.

I ignored the furious cursing from it's trainer and gave the man a grin, giving him a thumbs up. "How's that?"

He gave a short hum and scratched his chin, watching my Meowth bound back to us. "Not bad, girl. Nice to know your Meowth knows more than just cuddling and giving kisses." He returned his own cat to it's pokeball and started to walk slowly towards the now arguing grunts.

Just a not bad?! And of course Purry knows more than hugs and kisses, she won me two gym badges!

I glared at the back of the infuriating cop and followed after him. Being the dear that she is, Purry went and picked up my discarded sandal and followed after us.

 **000**

Nanu:

I returned Dame to her ball and headed towards the two panicking boys. "Y-you best s-stop trying to act hard, old man!" The rude one stuttered out, hands balled up like he was prepared to fist fight me if he had to. I kind of wish he would, it would make my morning.

"Maybe _you_ should stop trying to act hard, _baka."_ The girl said, coming to a stop by my side, looking unimpressed. I glanced down at her. She had one of her complicated sandals back on her foot, and her little Kantonian Meowth was running towards the other one she'd thrown. I still wasn't sure how she managed to get that thing off so fast while on the move. The tiny thin straps went all the way up past her ankles.

"Yo, I'm so annoyed right now, homie!" The punk said to his friend. "Let's go mess with Ilima again!"

The other one nodded. "Aww yeah, let's do that! Verdant Cavern is pretty close by anyway-"

"Do you two idiots really think I'm going to just let you leave?" I asked, grabbing my handcuffs from my utility belt. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an att-"

"Hey you!" The same one continued, his earlier anger peeking through his eyes. "You better listen to what my boy says and drill it into that thick skull of yours! We don't know nothin' about a fucking Spinda!"

I had to count to ten in fractions of a quarter before I was able to answer. When I did, I could barely unclench my teeth. "You better listen to what _I_ say and drill it into that thick fucking skull of _yours,_ boy."

I glared at the two pains in my neck, and heard the girl shift beside me. "Hand over any stolen Pokemon. Name your buyer." I said, softly menacing. "If I have to ask again, not even that brat Guzma is going save you."

They glanced at each other, wide eyed. It looked like they finally understood the situation they were in, and that they were _not_ the hardest men here.

We all stood there for a few tense seconds, and I subtly shifted my stance, knowing by the panicked looks in their eyes that they were going to try to run for it-

And I was right.

They split in two different directions, trying to go around us, I snapped a hand out and grabbed A by the back of his shirt, getting a terrified shriek out of him. I kicked the back of his knees and made him buckle, landing face first in the dirt and wrenched his hands behind his back. Just as I got the handcuffs on him I heard a pained cry from behind me, distinctly feminine.

Shit, the girl-!

I whipped my head around and saw that she was on the ground, body shielding her shocked looking Meowth, and blood started to seep through the back of her top in odd places. The punk was scrambling up next to her, turned to see how his buddy was faring, and froze when he locked gazes with me.

My insides felt numb, and I recognized it as a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. Cold, calculated anger.

I stood, intent clear in my steps as I stalked towards the punk. His eyes were the size of dinner plates and he looked like he was paralyzed with fear, trapped beneath the gaze of a ruthless predator.

Then something happened that caught us both by surprise.

A vicious yowl tore through my rage and the boy's terror, and suddenly he was face down in the dirt, the girl's foreign Meowth biting into his shoulder without mercy. If not for the coloring, I would've been sure she was Alolan for the menacing look in her eyes, practically glowing with wrath.

I eyed the two for a moment, before moving past them toward's the girl, confident that the Meowth had the punk under control. I came to a stop next to her and offered her a hand. She barely gave any hesitation before taking it with a grateful smile. She winced once she was standing and I immediately dropped her hand. I stared down at her, cataloging the scrapes and bruises that I could see and deduced what had probably happened. I opened my mouth to say a sarcastic remark about her being the trainer and _not_ the Pokemon, but to my surprise, instead asked, "You alright, girl?"

She gave a distracted nod and glanced from the cursing gang member behind me to my gaze. "Y-yeah. Asshole tried to kick Purry and he ended up kicking my messed up back, instead." She said with a huff, confirming my theory. Her body was wincing in pain but her deep blue eyes gleamed with pride. I could see why.

We both quickly turned when we heard a sudden battle cry, and I growled in annoyance seeing the once I had cuffed had tackled the Meowth off his comrade. The scratch cat tumbled through the dirt towards us and the girl rushed around me to catch her. Her Pokemon's momentum would have sent her rolling across the ground with her had I not quickly caught her as she fell back.

My arms wrapped around both the dazed Pokemon and her winded trainer as I glared at the backs of the retreating Skull grunts. Damn it, if I hadn't bothered with the girl and just focused on apprehending the punks, I could be planning my trip home by now.

I glanced down at the girl in my arms, and felt my frustration drain away. Well, it's not like I don't know where they're going.

I dropped my arms to my sides once I was sure the girl could stand, and glanced towards the relieved looking farmer.

"Thank you, officer! You as well, young one!" He said, giving a kind smile to the girl next to me. "You and that rare Meowth did quite the number on them! Allow me to thank you two for driving off those Skull numskulls." The old man grabbed some oran berries out of his pocket and offered some to both Sunne and I.

"Oh, thank you! Here you go, Purry! Eat this and take a rest, and I promise I'll clean you up afterwards, okay?" The girl cooed at the cat in her arms and I simply put mine in the girls bag, easily locating the insulated berry pouch that comes with every trainer's bag.

The girl turned to grab something from her bag and paused, seeing me already in it. I quirked a brow at the incredulous look on her face. "You can have my berries, girl. Don't need them." I shrugged, zipping the pouch closed.

"Oh, but I don't-" Before she could say anymore, I cut her off. "But nothing. They're yours." I stated, staring her down.

In retaliation, she gave me a flat stare, grabbed what she was going for in her bag and turned back around to thank the farmer again, returning her exhausted Meowth back to her luxury ball. It was then that I caught the full expanse of her back.

"Mind if we use your bathroom before we're on our way?" I asked the farmer, earning me a nod from the grateful man and a confused glance from the girl. I nodded my thanks and gently but firmly guided the girl towards the little house with my hand on the small of her back, below all the bloodstains.

"What's up, forcing a potty break on me too?" she asked dryly, reluctantly letting me guide her into the house, where we were immediately greeted with many trills and cries from the horde of Delibird inside.

I barely paused, a man on a mission, and while the girl was distracted by the festive birds, I successfully led her into the little bathroom. "Your back needs medical attention, girl." She quickly focused back on me at my words. "Your shirt's as good as ruined. You got another with you, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I always carry a couple outfits with me, y'know," She shrugged lightly. "just in case."

I nodded. Just in case indeed. "There should a first aid kit in the cabinet above the sink." I stated, watching as she gingerly removed her bag and set it down on the floor in the corner of the room.

"How do you know that?" She asked curiously, but went to look anyway. "I didn't see you ask...?"

"Just intuition. It's common to have first aid in the bathroom." I stated, and took a step forward, entering the bathroom just enough so I could close the door behind me.

The girl let out a "Huh," and proceeded to take out the kit and lay it on the counter, still facing away from me.

She mumbled something under her breath, too quiet for me to hear, and I felt amusement bubble up in my chest. The girl must of thought I had shut her in here, and wasn't aware that I had followed her in. Did she really think she would be able to treat her own back without assistance? Or that I was apathetic enough to let her try?

I stopped a chuckle before it could even fully form. Well, yes, she probably did. We had only just met last night.

Sunne had just started to lift the ends of her shirt up before I gave up waiting for her to notice me. No need for her to think I was a pervert. I cleared my throat pointedly.

She let out an amusing squeak and whirled around, wide eyed. "W-what are you still doing in here?!"

I quirked a brow. "What? You think you can dress your back successfully by yourself?"

The girl opened her mouth, probably ready to say, 'Yes, you old perv!' before she paused, thinking about it. Realization dawned.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," I said, a smirk curling a corner of my mouth. The girl looked more startled seeing _that_ than seeing me in the room with her moments ago.

My smirk grew a bit more, causing some teeth to peek out from behind my lips. I lifted a hand and slowly rotated my index finger, motioning her to turn around. She did so almost woodenly, and nervously lifted up her shirt so that it revealed her back and over her head, keeping her arms in the holes and using it to shield as much of her front as possible.

I couldn't help but let out a low whistle as I took in the bloody mess of her bronzed back, causing her to shoot me a glance. "Damn, girl. What'd you get into a fight with to cause that? A pack of wild Meowth?"

"More like a flock of asshole Spearow." She said, handing me the roll of gauze. At my curious look, she elaborated. "A baby Pokemon was being attack on an old bridge by a couple of Spearow, and I went out to save it. I didn't have any Pokemon on my at the time, so I was basically just meat shield."

I hummed in thought, and gently unclasped her bra. "The baby didn't try to defend itself?"

The girl shivered slightly when she felt my calloused fingers on her hurting back. "Well, not at first...it didn't really until I cradling it."

"Pretty brave of you girl...but also stupid."

She whipped her head around with a glare, eyes flashing like waves in a storm. "What was I supposed to do? Leave it to die?"

I shrugged, finished putting the gauze on her worst cuts and started to wrap her. "Didn't say that. I'm just saying, that now that it's over and done with, can you think of better ways to go about it?"

The girl bit her lip in thought, and absently took the wrap I passed her so she could circle it around her front. "I...I suppose..."

I let her think that over while continued to dress her wounds in silence, and noted that some of these would most likely leave some pretty visible scars. If she's lucky, they'll heal well enough that they'll turn white instead of an angry red. Although, white would stick out more on her tanned skin.

We sat there in a relatively comfortable silence as patched her up, in some old farmers bathroom, and I couldn't help but think that I hadn't felt this at ease around anyone in a long time.

 **000**

 **Well there's one chapter done. I have to redo the new chapter for My Story Will Last Forever for the THIRD TIME because my laptop froze and then DELETED hours of work. Same for my Sing fic, even though it's technically done, it's still in one whole document that isn't edited and third chapter is also pretty much gone. The only work to be saved from the hassle is my newest chapter for my flash fic, even though it isn't finished yet either. But damn, that one is a doozy.**

 **Sorry for the wait, but continue to be patient please!**

 **On the other hand, I've been watching Hunter x Hunter (2011) for the first time in my free time at work or on lazy days at home, and I finished the whole series in a little over a week .'**

 **Can I just say that my favorite character is Hisoka and my heart has reached a new low for choosing to be attracted to this man. Needless to say, my newest warm up writing is HisokaxOC lol.**

 **Idk if I'll ever post it, considering who it'll mostly feature, but I will if ya'll want me to. Just let me know!**

 **Thanks for the read, and for tolerating my blabbering, hope you liked the chapter!**

 **Ja ne**


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